4/30/17 Fifth Sunday Fun

Last night Heidi was asked to substitute in Sarah's Primary class. I was asked to handle tech for the 5th Sunday lesson. Heidi's class was about Emma Smith being asked to create a hymn book and on the power that spiritual music can have in our lives.
I had a weird glitch where one video played the sound but no picture. It's humbling to try so hard and still have it not go smoothly. The lesson was about having more of Christ in our lives. He is our exemplar. With His help we can make it through life's tough challenges.
This evening we ended up catching up on some rest and watching two shows on BYUTV (Relative Race and Random Acts). The first is a reality show where people use paper maps and race to meet relatives they never knew before. The other is a hidden camera show where they do secret service. Both are fun concepts. Hopefully we can learn about our ancestors and do service as well.

4/29/17 Mexican Fan Palms

The primary order of today was to plant two Mexican plan trees in Heather's front yard. (Ok a little confusing here, Heather owns it Grammie and Grandpa's stuff is in it). It was an all hands on deck affair. In the picture above Heidi and Bradley are digging out the citrus tree that Heidi's dad planted. The HOA rules are very specific. Two "ten gallon" non-citrus trees are required in the front yard or fines get charged. The citrus tree may go to the Ififif house (see Papa's blog) if it lives.

Matt and Sharon came with their trailer to transport the trees. We nongardeners did not have a clear picture of how large a "ten gallon" tree was. It turns out these "15 gallon" Mexican palms could have fit in our van. Still, it was good to have Matt and Sharon's help.

Rebecca and Bradley were each a huge help with digging out old roots from the former dead trees and with moving soil. Each one commented on how surprisingly fun it was to work on this project.

David also helped by picking weeds. He even went to the park to pick weeds. For his next rank he needs "conservation" service hours.

Heather supervised the kids putting soil back in around one of the new trees.
In the end there was a great sense of accomplishment at having planted two good sized trees. Heidi was the hero of the event she got out early and had most of the digging done before I knew she'd finished breakfast. Her hard work and leadership made for a successful event.

This afternoon I took Sarah to a friend's birthday party. It was a little tricky finding it. Sarah practiced her phone skills getting more specific directions within the large apartment complex. While she was there I ran to he Stake. Center to test running HD signal through to two far flung overflows at once. The good news is that it worked. The bad news is that the RS room was too far, apparently, to run through the house lines. We'll have to run our own and possibly boost the signal along the way.

4/28/17 Lifting Gram's Health

This morning Heidi and I went to VDO to do some research. While we were there Gram spotted this flowering cactus. There are only a couple of days each year when these bloom so it was special to take a moment and notice them.
The topic of our research was on pool lift chairs. The VDO pool has a chair lift so we went there to try it out. Heidi helped Gram buckle in. I climbed in the water, thank goodness this pool is heated, and helped Gram unbuckle. Once in the water Gram was able to swim around and exercise her legs. The short answer is that this appears to be an effective way for Gram to get in and out of the pool. Next up is a question about whether we need a permanent installation or if one of the portable models will serve our needs. Papa has a friend in the pool business so he took the assignment to ask those questions.
This evening David went on a camp out in the Phelp's back yard. While he did that the rest of us went out to Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's house in San Tan. Heidi worked at soaking the ground so that tomorrow we can plant two trees.

4/27/17 Bean Bag Fix

On Sunday when I went home teaching with Pierre his wife told me she was going to throw out this bean bag chair. I asked if instead we could have it. Heidi has since washed the cover and sewn the zipper that was coming loose. David and Joseph were among the first to try it out. It is fairly comfy. The only issue is that the kids seem to feel compelled to leap onto it. Still working on a solution for that.
This morning while Heidi did Humanitarian Bob Rhyne and I tested out using the already installed Ethernet jacks to carry HD to the overflows. It appears promising. We got the signal from the AV closet to the distant YW room without too much trouble. On the down side the switch we used didn't work to split the signal so we can feed more than one room at a time. I think we had the wrong piece of hardware. Next step is to test that theory on Saturday. We'll see what we find out.

4/26/17 The EDGE Method

This evening David worked on one of his last remaining requirements for his Life Rank. This is pretty remarkable since he is only 12 still. He won't even be 13 until July. I'm not sure how old I was when earned Life but 15 or 16 is possible. I know I didn't finish my Eagle until I was 17 and a half. David has a goal to finish by the end of this year and he may just do it. Tonight he needed to teach the other boys some knot tying requirements using the EDGE method. It stands for Explain, Demonstrate, Guide and Enable. He did pretty well for being a first time teacher. Perhaps he understands better how his teachers feel when his classmates struggle to pay attention. I love to see David learn new things.
Earlier in the day I took a CPE class on how to recognize an abusive tax shelter vs a legit one (like a 401k). Basically if the only reason to invest in it is for tax savings it's probably a sham. You should invest in businesses that you legitimately believe have a chance of making you money. Even if it's not in year one but down the road that's still ok. However, if the deal falls apart without the tax savings you should probably stay away.

4/25/17 Temple and Learning

This morning after Heidi dropped off the carpool kids she went to Franklin East Elementary. This is the school the kids would go to if the house works out. There is a waiting list for all the grades. Meaning that for us to get in somebody else has to move out. While Heidi was there filling out applications and doing orientation the phone rang. It was a parent calling to drop out of all day kindergarten. This means that instead of being first on the kindergarten wait list Joseph is in. Having one child in means the others get moved up to the sibling list. Instead of being 8 or 9 on the wait list they are now 1 or 2. The lady at the school told Heidi "This almost never happens. Today is your lucky day". Is this Heavenly Father letting us know we're headed in the right direction? We feel pretty good about it.
I took the above picture of Peter and Joseph while Heidi went to the temple. The goggles made them feel like super heros. They had fun noticing how the tinted lenses made everything change color.

This afternoon Rebecca hit an amazing milestone (at least to me) in her Khan Academy. She has practiced all the skills in the Pre-algebra mission (94% complete overall). This is the stuff David is working on in 7th grade and she's in 5th. The best part is that she is genuinely understanding the mechanics of how the math works. Once she knows the new vocabulary she is able to comprehend how it fits in with the things she has already learned. It's fun to watch her excitement and progress. TJ and Sarah are both also making progress on their next missions. Today we also helped Orson Phelps with his math and Lauren Roche came over. With them we've had to help fill in some gaps that didn't get filled in earlier for the current material to make sense. Once that happens math becomes much more intuitive.
This evening Heidi, with a little help from me, filled the green van with leaves. Goodness, she is a hard worker. So glad to have her in my life.

4/24/17 A Donut and A Good Wrassle

This morning at Entz it was Donuts with Dudes. It was a chance for the kids to bring their Dad (or other father figure) and share a donut. Rebecca, TJ and Sarah and I enjoyed our donuts and a brief visit. I love spending time with my kids.
Later on I had my regular meeting at Empire. After that Heidi worked on getting the kids registered for their new school.

This evening Joseph was in a mood for a wrassle. Before I knew it Sarah, Peter and TJ had joined in. I'm pretty sure that wrassling is one of the 5 love languages. It sure cheered me up.
For FHE we talked about the family proclamation and how we can relate our family goals to it.

4/23/17 Family Council

This morning Heidi and I had our Executive Family Council followed by regular Family Council. It does feel like it is getting better. There is less crying, people are coming more ready to participate and we even stayed on our agenda. We reviewed he past week and talked about places we can improve. Then we talked about things already on the calendar and filled in the empty spots in the evenings. That last step has been much harder in the past than it was today. It was not perfect, there was some crying and one person felt they were being forced to sit there when they weren't contributing anything. We were able to talk about how this isn't a meeting for them to simply sit in so we can tell them what to do. It is a chance for them to influence the plan. If I had to give it a grade I'd say B or B plus.
After church Pierre and I went home teaching to the Porters. It was a fun, comfortable visit. I'm going to miss them if things ever work out in the housing department.

4/22/17 Yard Work and House Planning

This morning we dropped Heidi off at Stake Baptisms and the rest of us went to Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's. David and Rebecca tag teamed on the lawn. David pushed the mower and Rebecca kept the cord out of the way. Sarah and Joseph both helped me pull weeds for a short time.
This afternoon Heidi met with Gram and Papa Connelly to go over items needed for the new house. It was a long list. Heidi had done a lot of research so the meeting went well. Assuming the appraisal goes well it's going to be a busy few weeks getting prepared.
Later on today Heidi took the kids to the pool. I went on a visit with the missionaries. It is amazing to me how soothing it is to study the Gospel. It really helped lower my stress level.
This evening Heidi and I went on a short date to Goodwill. We found a couple of fun family movies on VHS for 24 cents each.

4/21/17 Paperwork and Missionaries

This morning my dad asked me to stop by the Distribution Center to pick up a pocket sized New Testament for our cousin Benny. He has some health challenges and we've been asked to pray for him. While I was there I spotted a pocket Book of Mormon and felt like I should pick up one of those as well. Papa added both into a care package. I hope that Benny is able to receive strength from these wonderful books.
Heidi still wasn't quite 100% so she had to miss out on this morning's visit with Gram and Papa. We missed her steadying influence and her organization skills. We efforted gathering the required paperwork for the loan team. It was a little bit of a hassle but things are going well. We can't wait to hear about the appraisal.
This evening we were joined by Elder Parsons and Elder Maughan for dinner. We had spam rice and eggs. It was Elder Maughan's first time having spam. Elder Parsons had it when he was a student at BYU Hawaii. After dinner they shared a message about Easter and the Atonement of Christ. What an amazing blessing that we can repent and be an eternal family.
This evening the kids reminded us of our plan to play a board game. We actually played multiple games. Rebecca and some of the kids played Monopoly. Mom and David played checkers. Then he and I played chess. While I did that Mom joined Rebecca in the Monopoly game. We went to bed with a good feeling in the house. It feels like it comes from everyone loving each other and showing each other kindness. It was a good day.

4/20/17 Doing Our Best While Mom Rests

Last night Heidi appears to have come down with the stomache bug that Rebecca and Peter have had. She couldn't move without feeling extreme nausea. That meant it was up to the kids and I to get everyone dressed, breakfasted and lunches packed. Heidi usually makes most of the lunches. We were understandably slower this morning but somehow we still managed to get kids to school (barely) on time.
Next up I took Joseph, Peter and cousin Alex to the nursery at Humanitarian. I got the TV out of the library for them and helped out a little in there. I also signed up for a service called TAKL. It's supposed to connect providers with people who need things including Excel training and help setting up printers. It could be a source of a few additional dollars. Right now our basic needs are being met but it'd be nice to have a budget for a few extracurricular things.
After driving car pool for the second time today Peter woke from his nap needing some TLC. Being in the swing helped cheer him up.
This evening I met with some smart guys in our Stake and a neighboring stake about our possible microwave project. It looks like some good progress is being made. Hyrum Smith, I didn't catch what stake he's in, has a couple of microwave radios we can use to confirm that this will, or won't, work. That and I've been asked to price out he equipment needed to wire the buildings so that HD can be piped to the overflow rooms. Busy times but satisfying progress.

4/19/17 Active Day

Today we got a small peek of what our schedule could be like once we have multiple kids in the youth programs. This morning was fairly quiet. I did a live online CPE class about scripting in Excel. In the afternoon Rebecca and Sarah had activity days. Heidi also gave Alison Hallsted a ride. Before that Heidi and I went over to the Stake and Ward buildings and picked up a projector and speakers for the Senior night activity at the Rock's house. David's quorum had an assignment to pick up chairs at the Easter Pageant at 5:30. The girls got home just in time so they could watch the little boys while Heidi and I set up the projector. It ended up being needed for Heidi to come along because at first the DVD with the Senior slide show wouldn't play. I went to the Monteireth house to see if I could get a file version while Heidi started setting up. In the end the DVD played fine on the Rock's Sony Blueray player and the day was saved.
We are grateful that Heavenly Father helped us work out schedules so we could be where we needed to be. Before David turns 18 we'll have 5 of the 6 all in Young Men, Young Women and Cub Scouts at the same time. I guess this was good practice.

4/18/17 Temple and Service

This morning it was my turn to go to the temple. I did an endowment session. It struck me again that Heavenly Father has a pattern. He gives instruction about what to do, there is a return and report moment, He gives praise or correction as needed and then then gives another instruction. It was very interesting.
This evening Heidi took David to a merit badge clinic where he finished off his personal management merit badge. That's a hard one. We're proud of the effort he has put in. Writing is especially tough for him and this one had a lot.
While they were doing that the other kids and I picked up leaves in the yard. We also did service picking weeds over by the mailbox. We wanted to secretly help our neighbor but he was out washing his car so happily Sarah remembered Mom's other idea. It's amazing how much more fun it is to pick a neighbor's weeds than your own. Everyone down to Peter and Joseph helped. Rebecca got out her little reading light to help spot weeds when it started getting dark. It was a blessing to be able to serve.

4/17/17 Dirt Dessert

For Sarah's birthday Gram Connelly bought Sarah ingredients to make multiple recipes from Sarah's kid cookbook. The one Sarah was most excited about is call "dirt". It involves smashed up mint Oreos, chocolate ice cream and gummy worms. It was delicious and she had fun making it for our FHE dessert.

Here is a more close up picture.

For FHE the kids wrote letters or drew pictures for Grammie and Grandpa Mangum on their mission.

4/16/17 Easter Dinner

Today was a lovely Easter Sunday. We all went to church in the morning/ early afternoon.
In the evening we went over to Heather and Doug's house for dinner. As you may be able to see in the picture TJ and Joseph love to wrassle with their uncle Doug. Peter was a little worried the boys were being too rough on their uncle. I was nervous too but they were fine.
After dinner we watched the animated Trolls movie. It had a reasonably well done message that happiness comes from sharing our love with others.

4/15/17 A Move and an Easter Party

This morning Heidi and I helped Matt and Sharon load some of their belongings into a storage unit. They plan on temporarily moving in with her parents (the Taylors) while they sell their condo and shop for a new house. Happily they had a good amount of help from the ward and from family so the move went quickly.

This afternoon/evening the Taylors hosted an Easter egg hunt/barbecue. Above you can see David (in blue) running around with a bunch of Taylor grand kids.
A highlight of the event for me had to do with Peter. He was asleep when it was time to walk over so I waited to let him finish his nap. Often he wakes up cranky after naps so I was nervous about how he would do. When we arrived his cousin Alex spotted him right away. Alex came over and talked to Peter. He took Peter by the hand and they went off to play. Peter had a fun and happy time. I am so grateful that Alex counts Peter as a friend and that Peter likes Alex back.

Here is a picture of Alex and Peter playing together in a toy car.

4/14/17 Family Birthday Parties

This morning for Good Friday we all headed over to Gram and Papa Connelly's to celebrate TJ and Sarah's birthdays. If you haven't already, go check out Papa's blog for some fun pictures. A couple of highlights include grocery shopping for recipe ingredients for Sarah and eating ice cream on the porch. We very much appreciate the gifts, time and thought from the grandparents and Becca B.

Here is a shot of Joseph and Peter from the grocery trip. As you can see they are stoked.

In the afternoon we joined Matt and Sharon and family and Doug and Heather and family at the pool. The water was a little cold for all except Rebecca and Lauren to stay in very long. The water bottle rocket launcher extended the watery fun. Heather coordinated an Easter egg hunt. For dinner we had some Costco pizza.
At both events we took a moment to remember and talk about the Savior and His sacrifice so that we can be an eternal family. What a wonderful blessing.

4/13/17 Line of Sight

This morning, after Humanitarian, we investigated to see if there is "line of sight" or LOS between the buildings in the Stake. This would be required if we wanted to set up microwave transmitters for Stake Conference.

It turns out seeing a church spire from 1.4 miles away isn't easy. We used our telescope and still couldn't see it. We later found out that the elevation between buildings changes by about 40 feet. That could be the reason we couldn't see the other building.

In the evening Rebecca and Sarah got invited to a "late night" at our friends the Sagnimeni's. A late night is what some families do in place of a sleep over. While the girls were out Heidi and I took the boys to the Pequeno Park near our house. Joseph practiced riding a bike with training wheels. He was not super into it. He did fine though. Maybe he'll like it more as he gets older. Peter enjoyed having David push him on the swing.

4/12/17 3rd Grade Mission

Today TJ knocked off the final 1% to complete his 3rd grade math mission. It's been challenging for him but he has been persistent. For the record he is wrapping up 1st grade next month so this puts him two years ahead on his math. We are super proud of the effort that he has put in.

Earlier in the day Heidi did preschool with Amy, Peter and Joseph. Here they are at the pavilion at the grassy field.
While she did preschool I did a CPE class on non-profit strategic planning.

4/11/17 Temple, Training, Card

This morning it was Heidi's turn to go to the Temple. She reports that she did initiatory. She and I both feel that we are headed in the right direction. Our weekly family counsels have begun bearing good fruit. Today we did our daily chores and no one complained. By planning specific things to do each night (still working on this one) we make better use of our time. This evening, for instance, we followed the plan and filled the green can with leaves and then played at the grassy field. It would have been easy to have simply watched a movie on the iMac but this felt much better. It's still a challenge coming up with things for each night but the practice is making it easier.
This morning Vickie Rock came over and Heidi and I did some training on how to do some complicated transfers. There may be some additional follow up needed but I think it helped with her overall understanding.

This afternoon a card came in the mail for Sarah and TJ from Grammie and Grandpa Mangum. They are both very grateful.

4/10/17 Inspection and Resurrection Rolls

Our first exciting thing of today was the inspection at the house near Gilbert and Southern. As it turns out there are some minor issues that shouldn't be too tough to resolve. The roof is in good shape as is the water heater. The AC units are not new but they are much newer than the ones on the first two houses we looked at and appear to be working fine at this point. I tried testing the projector out but it was unplugged and the power cord I had available was three inches short of reaching.

For FHE we made Resurrection rolls. You take a large marshmallow, roll it in butter, cinnamon and sugar then wrap it in a roll. When you bake them the marshmallow melts out and creates an "empty tomb". The kids all got excited and helped out.

David was also a big helper. Here he is entertaining Peter.

The rolls were yummy. We took some to our neighbors and our home and visit teaching families. One of my families moved so we'll have to track them down.
After FHE I met Dennis Slade at the Adobe building and did some internet speed tests. It varied a lot from "very good" 50 Mbps to "good enough" 6 Mbps. Both should have been more than adequate for Stake Conference but it was a low traffic time. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where it drops below acceptable. Anyhow, we're learning for next time.

4/9/17 Rough Stake Conference

This graph describes about how my day felt. We had some rough technical issues. Heidi reassures me that they were not as bad as I feel they were. Still, we did not succeed at being invisible as was my goal. We worked so hard testing and fixing any known issues and still we had new ones today. Gratefully we had a solid team so we were able to handle the challenges as quickly as we did. Another plus of the issues is that we are now seriously considering better options. Even General Conference had some glitches when we watched at our house. The technology just isn't as stable as older tech like microwave or satellite. Anyhow, it was a bit of a rollercoaster but I have faith that Heavenly Father has a plan.
Something fun that happened this weekend was that we figured out how to use the Sony DVMC DA1 to record our VHS and DVDs so we can back them up. It's not perfect. Sometimes the recording will stop part way through. Still, it is the best we've had since the G5 went down. With little ones who can get into DVDs and scratch them up and VHS players that can eat tapes it's good to have a backup.

4/8/17 Stake Conference

Today I pretty much lived at the Stake Center. Heidi dropped me off around 7:15 am and we got home between 8:30 and 8:45 pm. I got to be involved with a solid team. First we set up and tested. Then in the afternoon and evening we had the Priesthood Leadership and Adult sessions of Conference. Largely things went well though we still have bandwidth issues at times. So far we don't know of any way to prevent buffering issues happening periodically in the feed. I feel prompted that things are going to be ok tomorrow.
While I was at the stake center Heidi and the kids mowed Grammie and Grandpa Mangum's yard. David and Rebecca did it actually. Heidi patched holes in the walls left by previous renters. David and Rebecca helped with this task as well.
At conference we were counseled to be kind, attend the temple, not take ourselves too seriously and to keep doing the little things like reading scriptures with the kids. Even when it seems like they aren't listening they are.
Roger Hallsted took the above picture. Putting up words with the hymns is our new trick we're trying for conference this time.

4/7/17 A Battle and a Party

Today was an exciting day for Rebecca at school. It was the last Battle of the Books event.

Instead of being in the library this one was held with the whole rest of the 5th and 5th graders watching.

Also in attendance were Gram, Papa and Becca B.
Rebecca and her team played well, only missing 2 questions. In the end though it was not enough. One of the other teams got a perfect score. They will go on to the district competition. We are proud of Rebecca for her dedication and reading so many books beyond her normal school work.

After that we prepped for a party for Sarah and TJ. Sarah had prepped to play several games at the park. We launched water bottle rockets and played the other games. Then we let the kids swim until it was time for dessert.

Heidi borrowed a Pikachoo cake pan from
the library and made this great rice krispy dessert. You should've heard the kids say "woah!" when they saw it. Overall it was a very successful outing.

4/6/17 Conference Prep and Round Table

This morning Heidi helped out at Humanitarian. I tested our equipment to see how well it handled keyed in lyrics for hymns. The answer is not great but possibly usable. I'd like a second opinion. Perhaps we'll get one on Saturday.

This evening at dinner time Peter was apparently tired of being indoors. He kept crying off and on so I took him outside. As is his usual he immediately cheered up once taken outdoors. He and I ended up down by the grassy field. After a while it was time for Heidi to go to Roundtable. She came and said goodbye. We made a video call back to the house and invited the other kids to join me at the park. They came running. Above is Rebecca who wanted to play catch.

Here is TJ in the foreground with Joseph running in the background. Perhaps too small to see is Peter at the edge of the grass. David and Sarah came too but I didn't get a good shot of them. When it got too dark for the park we went home. We tested out a little device called an AppleTV. I think it might be a good tool to help Gram organize her video collection. Time will tell.

4/5/17 Girl's Camp Kickoff

This morning I did a 2 credit CPE class about wearable computers in accounting. The short answer is that while there are some cool new gadgets they don't, yet, do a lot of accounting tasks. That will likely change.
This afternoon I met with Michael about a new task for one of our clients. Then I helped kids with homework.
This evening I helped Brian Jensen with the mic and projector setup for the Girl's Camp Kickoff meeting. As always the women and girls had elaborate plans and decorations. They had a cute skit about ASK U the fictional university they'd be having at camp. The theme is teaching about personal revelation. What an important skill for anyone to learn.

4/4/17 Here We Go Again

This morning it was my turn to go to the temple. I got to do initiatory for six people. Many are ancestors we did Baptisms for last week with Jon and family. It felt good to be helping move the work along.

When I checked in with Heidi she had set an appointment to see houses with Diane. One family was keeping bunnies in the yard.

The Hallsteds kindly watched Joseph and Peter so we could be a little more focused.

We ended up liking one place well enough that we took Gram and Papa and the kids to go see it. The realtor for the seller says there is an offer already on the table but hinted that we might still win the day if we offered closer to the asking price. Heavenly Father has a lesson for us somewhere in all of this. I'm not sure what it is but I hope I'm learning it. We will see what happens.

4/3/17 Honor Band Concert

This evening Heather invited us to see Bradley perform with the Mesa Honor Band. He is really doing well with his trumpet playing abilities. We filled a row with many children. Most were well behaved.

After a couple of loud comments about how dark it was Peter was taken to the hall. Heidi took a turn first. During my turn Peter entertained me by talking about how the partially closed circular air vents looked "sad". I couldn't understand why some looked happy and some were sad. Peter was confident about it though. He also gave me a running commentary about colors, numbers and shapes that he saw. It was thoroughly enjoyable. I even got to hear the concert through the house speakers. Bradley's Band sounded great and we are glad we got to come and listen to him play.

4/2/17 General Conference Day 2

On Monday we wrote down some of our questions that we hoped to have answered at General Conference. Below are some of the notes that we wrote down. Peter had fun erasing the board when he got a chance so there may have been more. As you can see we didn't hear answers to all of our questions but we did hear answers to many. I also thinking that we did better listening overall because we listened with a purpose.

General Conference Questions
How do we know whether or not we should move? (Ganon) trust in God- Soares

How do I Help my children do better in school? (Heidi)
Be a light- have compassion
Be more diligent

What topic will Elder Bednar speak about?(Papa)
Missionary calls vs missionary mission assignment - Bednar

Should I go back out on my mission?(Ben)
Where you serve is second to the call to serve. - Bednar

My grandfather is married to 2 women who will he be with in eternity?(Gram)

Why should we ask Heavenly Father our questions? (Nate) Jesus listening can hear, you are unique irreplaceable- Holland

What do you do when a bully won't stop bullying you? (Sarah)
Follow the golden rule Renlund
Love our enemies the way we love our friends
Be kind, loving and charitable- Monson

How do you help with adversities in your life?
Seek a greater influence of Jesus Christ in your life
Sunshine in my Soul- Holland

Suggestions to help when family members are having struggles with living the gospel .(Papa)
Love God and keep the commandments
Follow Christ, see them as He sees them Eyring

What can the Holy Ghost help with?
Rasband talk -respond to first prompting. We will be on the Lord's errand
Elder Stevenson talk
Inspires, teaches, accompanies people who listen to the Lord

How can I better provide for my family? (Ganon)
Have goals and plans -Ballard
Seek first the Kingdom of God
Church leadership opportunities can help us be good leaders at work - Causse

After Conference Peter and Joseph and I walked down to the grassy field.

The boys love spending time outside.

Peter and Joseph think the chimney in the pavilion is a fun place to sit.

4/1/17 General Conference Day 1

General Conference is a wonderful time to hear the Prophets and Apostles speak. This morning we made our traditional cinnamon rolls. Heidi and the kids watched at home. It was my turn to set up the TV at the Stake Center so I ended up watching there as well.
During the afternoon session we all went over to see if Jae wanted help with testing. We had our Conference questions up on our portable whiteboard. We found several answers in the talks so far.

Here are Sarah, TJ and Joseph listening at the back of the Primary Room.

We borrowed some legos from the nursery to keep the kids quietly entertained. Rebecca has actually been doing ok at taking notes. She would occasionally ask me how to spell a speaker's name or an odd word. Overall the kids did ok at paying attention. At least they were quite enough that we could hear the speakers. They have made some good progress over the years.
This evening David and I went to Priesthood together. He was a big helper with putting away the projectors and cables after the meeting.
Also, Heidi and I visited a house in Crosspoint ward boundaries that is for sale by owner. It actually isn't on the market yet but will be soon. It sounds like it will be in our price range. It has a second building that could be modified perhaps as a living space. We'd need to check the zoning. We did this right before Priesthood and it made the timing a little tight for getting the projector turned on.