4/30/18 Clean Up

Today the strike continued on so we made the best of things. Sarah and Rebecca took advantage of the time and cleaned up their room. They decided to take pictures of some things that they wanted to remember but no longer keep.

Here is Rebecca with one of her treasured memories.

4/29/18 Lehi Stake Conference and Home Coming Talks

This morning I helped out with the Lehi Stake Conference. Heidi took the kids to see Grammie and Grandpa Mangum give their homecoming talks in the Val Vista Ward. Gram, Papa and Becca B went too.

This evening Elder Gary Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 gave an address to the Mesa Temple workers.

Peter, flashing a big smile.

4/28/18 TJ's Baptism

For this uber special event, Heidi wanted to take some pictures to remember it by. Who said taking family pictures was easy? Take a look and see which one you like best.

David

TJ looking like a young missionary.

Joseph, giving his big brother some love.

Joseph with a big smile.

Sarah Mei

Rebecca Noelani gave the talk on baptism.

Peter Daniel

Heidi with the pretty smile.

Heidi insisted on getting pictures of me as well.

The best part was getting to stand next to her and see her smile.

Grammie Mangum gave the opening prayer. Gram Connelly conducted the music. TJ's two grandfathers acted as the witnesses. His cousin Lauren gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. Our home teacher, Brother Postert came and Brother Lewis brought a card by. I had the privilege of performing the baptism and confirmation.TJ is well loved. We are proud of his decision to be baptized.

4/27/18 Temple and Father/ Sons Camp

Today, Gram, Papa, Heidi and I went and did an Endowment session in the Temple. Our time grows short before the Mesa Temple closes.

This afternoon, David, TJ, Joseph and I headed out past Pine for the annual Father and Sons campout. We did not take Peter. Our house rule is that you have to be potty trained to go. Hopefully next year he'll be ready.

Brother Steven Bairn planned some fun, silly games. Here is Joseph trying to get the cookie from his forehead to his mouth without using his hands.

For this one, the boys threw Cheetos into the shaving cream on my head. What a mess this one made.

Then the boys made towers from marshmallows and toothpicks. Try not to eat the building materials.

I can't remember the object of this game with the cheese puffs. TJ got right into eating the leftovers.

Somehow I missed David in the pictures. He was around running with his friends in the Deacon's quorum. All in all, it was a good time.

4/26/18 Red For Ed

     Today, Rebecca, Sarah, TJ, and Joseph all got an early preview of Summer. The teachers in the public schools are doing a walkout to request higher wages and better funding for schools. David's school is a charter school so he still had class today.
     Luckily for us, today was Humanitarian. Heidi took the kids to stuff toy balls or play in the nursery. I went over and had my payroll meeting at Empire. After that meeting, Heidi's folks were kind enough to let me have a meeting with Michael in their guest room. We were going to have a phone meeting with one of my clients but that had to get rescheduled.

4/25/18 Big Helper

Peter spotted Grammie Mangum's dustpan and wanted to help Heidi clean up. She reports that he did a great job.

At home Sarah, TJ, and Joseph collaborated to make this artistic design. I love it when my kids play happily together.

4/24/18 Emerald Acres Pinewood Derby

Today was TJ's chance to race his car with the boys in the ward. 

There were many fast, and cool looking cars in the race.

TJ was assigned the number 1 racing position.

Bishop Schnepf was the race judge deciding the winner of each race.

The leaders also called this event the Blue and Gold Banquet. Grammie and Grandpa Mangum and Gram and Papa Connelly were all able to cheer TJ on. The food provided a welcome distraction for racers who were waiting for their turn. Caleb Hinton and I were asked to fill out the winner board and keep track of who was racing next. It was complicated.

TJ's car was given the award for best workmanship. The best part for me is TJ's big smile.

4/23/18 Personal Tech Support

This afternoon I went over to Brother Geahlen's house to help him with some AV challenges. We worked to set up his satellite TV, DVD player, sound system etc. in his RV. I didn't take a picture but I found an RV like his on the internet. At one point Brother Geahlen said, "it must be nice to be able to do this kind of thing professionally".  I was in the middle of fixing something and didn't come up with a reply. I might have said, "I'll bet it would be". I do enjoy hooking up TV systems and making them work right. It felt good to be able to help someone with a project they couldn't do themselves.

4/22/18 David's Eagle Court of Honor

Joseph picked out his own outfit for church today. He knows what he likes.

After church Gram thought it would be fun to walk home with those who were walking. It was a nice little visit.

The once in a lifetime event that happened today was David's Eagle Court of Honor.

Our friends, the Phelps family came and brought the whole family. Brother Phelps was David's Scoutmaster and David chose him as the person he wanted to give his mentor pin to. 

Each boy was asked to bring a display to show some of the things they did on the road to Eagle. Here is David's display.

Heidi coordinated with a friend to have this large bank of historical American flags. It was cool to see some that I had never even heard of.

David's friends Lincoln Phelps and Silas Morris worked on their Eagles together. They raced and pushed each other to complete the work faster. It is good to have friends they encourage you to achieve your highest potential.

Nicely done David. We are proud of you.

4/21/18 Friend Pool Party

This morning Heidi and I spent time inflating these two large pool rings from Papa. You see that one of them is easily large enough to encompass Peter, Joseph, AND TJ.

The rings came in handy because the water was chilly. Here is Sarah with her friend Rayden.

Sarah's friend Maddie took a turn using TJ's tube.

Sarah and TJ shared a cake and blew the candles out together.

Joseph went a party for twin brothers in the ward. It was superhero themed. Can you guess which hero Joseph drew? I think it turned out great. Very fun.

Also squeezed into today was making a treat to take to our friends the Turleys for helping us with the hole in our yard. We made a treat that has pudding, crushed Oreos and Gummy Worms in it. It's called dirt. It seemed appropriate. I hope they like it.