Oscar's Baby Blessing

Today we blessed Oscar in our church. I was so nervous that Oscar was going to cry, but he did great. Dan also did a great job, but he did cry :) The blessing was very nice, and even though we couldn't have family with us we were surrounded by our friends which was wonderful. Dan blessed Oscar with a desire to have a strong faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and to be able to seek after those things that are good and bring happiness as well as feeling accomplished as he finds his way in the world. He also let Oscar know that we love him very much and that he may have that knowledge his entire life. We are so blessed to have this little miracle in our lives!

I bought Oscar a cute little outfit to wear. He even got to wear Dan's old baby shoes for the blessing.






Dan did a great job making a beautiful spread of quiche and scones for our friends to enjoy in a post-church brunch. It was a wonderful day!

Personal Temple Worship

It's no surprise, I often times have a hard time keeping motivated for weekly church attendance. I don't always see the value in the "every day" aspects of my faith, and what I associate as "the necessaries" involved with being an active Latter-day Saint. With that said though, I'm very much engaged in the importance of temple work and the opportunity it provides for personal spiritual development; a one on one personal connection with God. All separate from the other aspects of service and giving of your time, talents and energies that are associated with my religious faith and the service opportunities you are expected to be a part of.

I love the temple for the importance of doing work for those that have passed on. Saving ordinances I feel that each of us need in order to return to live in God's presence. The connection to genealogy and family ancestry in evident in the temple, particularly to my own family members who are no longer living.

This book was a nice reminder of the blessing and importance of temples on the earth today. And encourages not only Latter-day Saints to attend the temple often, but for all of God's children to learn about the importance of temple worship in their ongoing spiritual development. There were nice pieces of insight in this book.

Temple Weekend

This weekend Dan and I are heading to Vancouver BC for a day trip to the new LDS temple. We went through the open house before it was dedicated, but haven't been inside to worship and do work there yet. As I was thinking about our upcoming road trip, I started a list of the number of temples I've seen, and the number of temples I've actually been in.

Seen:
Boise, Idaho
Boston, Massachusetts
Bountiful, Utah
Columbus, Ohio
Johannesburg, South Africa
Jordan River, Utah
Logan, Utah
Manhattan, New York
Manti, Utah
Mount Timpanogos, Utah
Nauvoo, Illinois
Oquirrh Mountain, Utah
Portland, Oregon
Provo, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
San Diego, California
Seattle, Washington
Vancouver, British Columbia
Washington D.C.

Served in:
Boston, Massachusetts
Bountiful, Utah
Columbus, Ohio
Johannesburg, South Africa
Jordan River, Utah
Manti, Utah
Mount Timpanogos, Utah
Portland, Oregon
Salt Lake City, Utah
Seattle, Washington

I love that we have temples around the world for so many to have the opportunity to serve and worship there. Both of my lists are kind of short, I'd like to work on making them both much longer.

Vancouver Temple

I promised I'd post pictures of the temple so here they are. We had a little struggle getting there, but it was so worth it. I was amazed by the spirit that Dan and I both felt in the temple even before it was dedicated. We both got choked up as we walked through, not because of the architecture or decor, not even because of what the guide was saying, but it was because I know the sacred work that is done there, and I know that it is a place where God can dwell. I'm thankful for temples and even more thankful for the love Dan has for them and the opportunity we have to serve there.






As for the interior, it is very beautiful. There are representations of the provincial flower, the dogwood, all around. It felt very inspired by nature with the blue and green stained glass and rich murals and paintings.

Happy Easter

We never got around to putting up our Easter decorations this year, since we've been living in a museum while our house is on the market, so it hasn't felt very "Eastery". But we made up for it this weekend. I'd seen in Martha Stewart and Sunset various techniques for egg dying that I wanted to try this year, so on Saturday night we had friends over to try them out. Sunset says to dye brown eggs for rich jewel tones and Martha says to use electrical tape to mask off areas to make silk screen like designs. We did both!

I started out by boiling some brown eggs. I don't know why but for some reason I was fascinated with the eggs while they were boiling. Look at the bubbles that come out of the eggs in a straight line. What's with that?



Our friends Brock and Layla brought over white eggs to add to the mix. We used McCormick's food dye in regular and neon colors which we mixed using recipes from a blog I found, added to 2 TBS white vinegar and 1 cup just boiled water in mason jars.



Then we used electrical tape to cut out designs using pinking shears, scissors, and exacto blades. After the tape was cut we applied them to eggs making sure the tape was burnished on really well (lesson learned since my first attempt the tape fell right off), and dipped them into our first colors.



Dry on a baking rack, on a paper towel lined baking sheet.



Pull the tape off, add more tape if you want multiple colors with overlapping and dip again! Here are the beauties we came up with.










These two are my favorite :)



Sunday I decided to get out our silver bunnies and alabaster eggs to go on our Easter table. We had Steve, Kelly and Miles over for dinner and I wanted to bring out the china for the occasion.





Dan made a lovely roasted chickens (sorry no photo) with a light sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, garlic and herbs instead of gravy.



He also slaved away making funeral potatoes, which are always a family tradition, but with a twist of garlic and rosemary. They were wonderful! And of course no Easter dinner would be complete without rolls. The house was covered in flour as he made Sylvia Butterfield's Oat roll recipe.




Steve and Kelly brought over an excellent asparagus tart and carrot cake cupcakes complete with hand formed marzipan carrots.




I'd never really had carrot cake before so I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was excellent! Everything really was so good, I was very full.

But what made the day even better was, of course, remembering our Savior Jesus Christ, His sacrifice and the miracle of His resurrection allowing me the opportunity to live with Him and my family for eternity. I loved that LDS General Conference, which happens twice a year, was on Easter. It was a wonderful time to hear from our Prophet and other leaders of our church.

The Peace Scriptures Bring

Holly and I, recently finished a 3-year deep dive study of the Old Testament. We utilized the church seminary and institute manuals to augment our studies. I must say, I've only read the bible cover to cover twice. Once as a 19yo missionary, and this second time with Holly in our family household scripture studies. I learned a tremendous amount of information, both secular and spiritual in nature. As well as LDS and non-LDS viewpoints on the various subject matter. On that same vein, I finished the Book of Mormon again last night, and I love that I have multiple scriptural volumes to enhance my spiritual learning. I've read the New Testament and Book of Mormon numerous times and always learn something new each time I read those volumes that I can apply to my personal life from the ministry of Jesus Christ and his apostles, prophets and followers. I'm grateful for continued revelation and the knowledge that God does have a modern-day prophet on this earth, and communication with God the Father, and his son Jesus Christ, has not ceased. The heavens are not closed, and never have been closed to our own personal revelation, if we just ask them for their guidance in our lives, and include them in our daily decision making.

Christmas At Temple Square

To me, nothing beats a stroll through Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City during Christmas. The display of lights, coupled with historic LDS buildings really leads to a memorable experience time and time again.



I loved how the life sized creche was situated in the east fountain. The reflection of light allows the creche and the temple to reflect flawlessly in the fountain. Despite the dozens of people taking a picture like we did, it was still very reverent and very peaceful. Taking a moment to reflect on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and his ministry of helping everyone, is something every Christian should do on a regular basis. Not just at Christmas.



The rows of orange lit trees at the Assembly Hall is a personal favorite.



The view of the temple through the orange lit trees. So beautiful.



To me, the quintessential experience every year at Temple Square, is the huge red lit pine tree. This year was the first year in LED and you could not even tell. It was beautiful. This tree is easily a few stories tall. And you can see it driving a few block away from Temple Square. It can bee seen everywhere.



The Salt Lake Temple holds a special place in both mine and Holly's souls. This is where we started our life together, married for time and eternity by proper priesthood authority.



There is such an overwhelming sense of peace with the temple. Regardless of which LDS temple we visit, we always feel like we are coming home. Reminding ourselves at each visit of the priceless covenants we made to each other for time and all eternity. Temple Square at Christmas is a beautiful thing.

Bearing One Another's Burdens In Life

This time of year, I’m reminded how much I have to be grateful for. How much love exists with Holly and I, and our families. And other things we often take for granted. There are a lot of people around us really struggling, having an extremely hard time, and are living in dire circumstances and doing the best they can under such circumstances. I wish we could both do more, but all of us can do a little by being aware and doing our part to help bear up one another’s burdens in life.

A friend of ours at church recently lost her mother. Losing a parent, particularly close to Christmas is really hard. I feel grateful she’s reached out to us, and allowed us to be there for her and help her though this devastating time as she heals and moves forward.

Also, a few days ago, there has been a serious automobile accident involving some elderly folks in our church congregation. The injuries are pretty bad, and the three of them will have a long convalescence ahead of them for full recovery, if regained. Again, my heart goes out to their families that will be helping them through the weeks and months ahead.

I'm learning the importance of not taking my religious community for granted. My congregation of fellow Latter-day Saints is an extension of my personal family unit. Dozens of people, locally that I truly care deeply for, and only want the absolute best in life for them. We might share the same religious beliefs, but we are all very unique in nature. We all have our own different set of challenges. Each can contribute something to helping someone else in some fashion. All we want is to help one another through lives many trials and challenges. Being there for people, when they need a shoulder to cry on is truly what Christ’s gospel in action is all about. Being there when they need to vent, or just want to have a good old laugh. I’m grateful for the amazing people, of all ages, full of faith that I get to associate with on a regular basis. The friendships forming, regardless of age or experience or means, will last with me through the eternities.

I’m grateful for church service, which is often times an inconvenience to one’s personal time commitment. But truly allows you to regularly reach out to someone in dire need. The Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching programs that we support in our church are truly inspired, for the both the giver and the receiver in need.

Without God, There Would Be No Mortality or Eternal Life to Embrace.

I really enjoyed the talk Elder Robert D. Hales gave at the recent semi-annual LDS General Conference last weekend. The darkness of secularism and atheism is deep around everyone, and those of us that choose to be religious are often attacked in the world for their various beliefs. So many nations have been founded on religious freedom, and yet, so quickly forget that. How sad to think that your life would end at the grave? And that you would not be with your loved ones forever? I respect individual viewpoints and choices others share.

The promise of eternal life with our loved ones can be ours if we simply follow God's commandments. Making the necessary steps in your life to follow God, obey his teachings and obtain the necessary ordinances and covenants in your life can be obtained to help us return to his presence. As God's children, why would we not want to strive for this in our personal lives? God has loved us throughout all the ages of time. He's always provided us a prophet to be his mouthpiece on the earth. These modern times that we live in, are no different that the meridian of time, or the ancient times surrounding Adam, Noah and Isaac.

I'm grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who has restored his church on the earth, with living prophets and apostles who are his mouth piece to help us along the way. It takes effort for one to exercise faith in God and in the eternities, however we can pray and know for a surety for ourselves. I've prayed and believe this for myself. Knowing I can be with Holly forever and my family and friends who make the same efforts, is the greatest blessing God has given to me, to all of us.

Investing In Us, One #10 Can At A Time

Over the past few years, I’ve felt this inner need that I need to follow not only sound advice for preparing for a rainy day or unforeseen events, but really feeling like I need to follow prophetic counsel I’ve heard my entire life. We live in a world of plenty, but we also live in a world of chaos and unprecedented challenging times. Good, sound financial, temporal and spiritual preparation is something that all of us can benefit from…a provident lifestyle. I’m happier when I’m more spiritually grounded and happier when I know Holly and I both take finances, temporal resources and food storage seriously.



Holly and I have been gradually building up our long term food storage. Should the need ever arise; we have something to fall back on to sustain ourselves. Like a financial nest egg, this temporal nest egg has been built up over time. We have been participating in LDS church sponsored cannery assignments where we’ve been able to purchase food storage items that can last 30+ years with the satisfaction of knowing that we have prepared it ourselves, all while preparing food items to be used for global and regional disaster, food banks and Bishop's storehouses for the needy. Whether the need arises and we need to tap into this due to job losses, natural disasters, or having something to share with family or friends who really are having an extreme challenging time. This is something that has been piece of mind for our family.

I recently found some nice additions through Emergency Essentials and The Ready Store to augment our basic food storage of grains, rice, wheat, beans, flour, sugar and oils. We’re starting to add more dried fruits and veggies, along with freeze dried dairy products that can be used to stretch basic food storage items. Sure this may not suit my everyday culinary palette. But in an emergency or long term grocery shortage, this will be well received. All of this stuff has a 30+ shelf life if stored properly; all sealed in #10 cans for easy stacking.

• Freeze Dried Green Bell Pepper Dices
• Chicken Bouillon Granules
• Freeze Dried Banana Slices
• Yellow Popcorn – you need a treat, even in an emergency
• Freeze Dried Chopped Sweet Onions
• Iodized Salt
• Corn Starch
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Shortening Powder
• Butter Powder

"Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to “prepare every needful thing” (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we can care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others."

"We encourage all people world-wide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your financial savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve."

—The LDS Church First Presidency, Feb. 2007.

Missionary Flashback Photo

I have been laughing for the past several days over some old pictures. An old missionary companion I served with on my mission, scanned some pics and sent them to me via facebook. I don't remember these pictures per se, but I definitely remember this point in my LDS 2-year mission service, which was coincidentally Seattle. This was a district meeting up at the Mountlake Terrace Building. The ironic thing is that Holly and I currently live in this stake. Since I was a wee little lad, and barely 19 going on 20 I look like a fetus! AND, I had hair. This seems like ages ago. I'm the one of the far right looking completely BORED to tears. It must not have been a very compelling district meeting. Obviously, I can't remember a thing about it.

My Weekly Recharge

The more Holly and I attend the temple, the more I realize what a privilege it is to serve in the temple as an ordinance worker. We both have come to really love our weekly commitment each Wednesday evening in the Seattle LDS temple. You really can feel of the love God and Jesus Christ have for all the children of men, if they/we just follow prophetic counsel and obtain the necessary ordinances and covenants in our personal lives. A loving heavenly father only wants what is best for all of us. I truly believe this very personally. Temple work, genealogy, families, all things point towards relationships lasting forever if you want it to. Being an ordinance worker we both are able to assist temple patrons in any capacity. I love that Holly and I are able to do this weekly together, and I love that it's on Wednesday's, the perfect break to the monotony of the weekly work grind.

The Beauty Of Church Attendance

I'm constantly asked by coworkers why Holly and I go to church. Why do we take the time to go to church, when we could use that day for ourselves? I feel strongly that since our country was founded on religious freedoms, and also I believe strongly that God is the source of everything we have in this life. Because of this strong conviction, the least I can do is give of my time and talents to try and make the world a better place. We participate in a study group, and have so for almost eight years and we meet on a regular basis. This past weekend we studied an article from Eugene England, a retired professor from Brigham Young University and a former Dean of Academic Affairs at St. Olaf Liberal Arts College in Minnesota. In his eight page article we just studied, his following comment stuck the most out in my mind.

In his words, "Church involvement teaches us compassion and patience as well as courage and discipline. It makes us responsible for the personal and marital, the physical and spiritual welfare of people we may not already love, and may even heartily dislike, and thus we learn to love them. It stretches and challenges us, even when we are disappointed and exasperated, in ways we would not other wise choose to be stretched and challenged. Thus it gives us a chance to be made better than we may have chosen to be—but need and ultimately want to be."

I go to church to be less selfish, to offer up my time and talents, to learn from others, and to be challenged by humanity. I also try to go beyond church and actively help in the community to give better awareness for my faith. All of this is the refiners fire that makes us better human beings in the long run. Helping others, not just friends, but even strangers, I feel truly brings the highest level of happiness.

Teaching Temple Prep Courses

Seattle, Washington, USA Temple

I'm pretty excited to be teaching the weekly Temple Prep class as part of our combined ward/congregation's adult Sunday School class offerings. This will be a course that I'll teach over 10 weeks to folks are are preparing for temple attendance for their first time, or for folks who are returning to the temple after a period of long inactivity. I'll teach this class on and off. I was asked to oversee this assignment this past week. Since Holly and I both are very passionate about regular temple attendance, and feel that attending the temple is a huge blessing to one's spiritual life, this will fit perfectly with our other assignments we both have that are focused on helping other members see the importance of regular church attendance and regular temple attendance. I start teaching in mid February.


Portland, Oregon, USA Temple

I'm always fascinated by all the temples being built all over the world. The LDS church currently is operating 128 temples worldwide, 8 additional ones are under construction, and 10 have been announced to begin design and construction. Holly and I have had the opportunity to visit a few temples locally and around the world. I hope to visit more depending on where our travels take us. My favorites have been the following.

1) Manti, Utah, USA Temple
2) Johannesburg, South Africa Temple

Doing Your Part

This past weekend was a good resurgence of long term energy that I needed. We had the opportunity to attend Stake Conference at our church. Stake Conference occurs twice a year, where multiple congregations in a geographical area come together for two days of counsel, leadership and instruction from church leaders, as well as others who have been invited to speak. This occurs in three, two hour meeting blocks.

The thing that had the most impact to me was at the Saturday evening meeting where all adults 18 and older were invited to attend to talk candidly about the issues that all of us face in the world. Most recently the pending economic uncertainty, to youth and young adults who may be having a hard time with addictions that are prevalent in the world today, everyone is bombarded with family or friends who are struggling and having a hard time. The phrase, “Every Member [of the church], needs to be a Member,” really stuck out in my mind. It cannot be a handful of people in our religious community trying to make a world of difference. It takes initiative from everyone to make an impact not only in a religious community, but in all other social circles.

I immediately thought of taking this to the next level. “Every Human needs to be a Humanitarian.” If we all made a concerted effort to be more involved in the lives of other people, not only in our chosen religious communities, but in all circles of life, things really would be better for everyone around us. Despite hard times, we all truly have so much in our lives. People’s attitudes towards others would also change and be more optimistic in general. When I get involved and give of my time and talents willingly, and not begrudgingly, I truly walk away from the opportunity uplifted and am glad that I took the time out of my personal schedule to help someone else. Whether this be helping someone move, taking a meal to someone who is shut in or financially having a hard time, giving someone a ride, visiting a widow or widower, or doing some yard work for someone. I’m really exited to look for ways that I can help other people have a better life, even if it’s only a few moments at a time. The long term benefit this can have in my own life is incalculable. I have so much to be grateful for in my life. The least I can do is pay it forward from time to time.

Jordan River Temple Trip

As a family, we enjoyed a temple session during our Christmas vacation at the Jordan River LDS temple in South Jordan Utah. Holly and I have been to this temple before on a prior trip to Utah, but this was the first time we were together with most of Holly's family. I didn't get a picture of everyone, but here is a picture of Holly, her sister Renae and her Mom. We met Kyle and Alicia at the temple. The backdrop of the actual temple in the background was beautiful as it was turning dusk and was lit up with lights. It was FREEZING cold! For those of us in our family that are able to attend the various LDS temples, and are interested in doing so, we enjoying attending the temple with family whenever we can. Afterwards we congregated at Kyle and Alicia's home and had dinner with all the nieces. This temple outing was a nice compliment to our recent family visit.

The Gift of Christmas

I love this time of year, where you can truly reflect on things that are personally important to yourself and your life. I hate the commercialized aspects of the holidays, but being in the marketing business, I also get the need to constantly promote your brand or product to entice and convince people that they can't live without your product or service. Lots of peoples' livelihood rely on the marketing and advertising business in this country and across the globe.

We had the opportunity to go to a religious themed holiday concert last night, as well as a devotional given by the first presidency of the LDS church. No Jingle Bells, or Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. Just traditional, spiritually focused Christmas hymns and performances. Both venues, combined into one fabulous evening, really left me energized about the approaching Christmas celebration. Not a celebration of gift giving or receiving, or a celebration of what we are doing for the community, non-profit organizations, office white elephant exchanges or troops overseas. But a celebration of the humble birth of Jesus Christ. The circumstances surrounding his coming into this world, and the events leading up to that long for told event. An individual, whom I dearly believe, is the son of God, the Savior of this world, and Redeemer to anyone and everyone who will ever live. An individual whom if we look to for ultimate example, truly does help us live a better life.

Being politically correct all the time during the holiday season to ensure that one does not offend other beliefs is fine. In a world of increasing chaos, we can all do our part to be more accepting of others, and more willing to be well rounded and well versed in other peoples viewpoints to a certain point. I'm excited to celebrate Christmas, the way I want, with who I want. The magic of this time of year, truly does have the heart of men thinking about more than themselves. I love Christmas. I love what it does for family and people. I love what it does for our various communities. But most importantly, I love that those in the world who want to, can unite and focus on the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My New Marshmallow Suit

Beep and I received a letter this past week from the Seattle LDS temple presidency asking us to come in and meet with them. We met with one of the counselors last night, and we now have a new stake level calling. We are going to be ordinance workers on Wednesday evenings going forward on the 3rd shift, 4:00pm-10:00pm schedule. What this means for us, is instead of going as patron participants only, we are now going to be officiators of various temple ordinances. We will be learning all the associated procedures for initiatories, baptisms, endowment sessions and so forth. We both are very excited to be of service in this capacity. We are both feeling a tad overwhelmed, but excited for this spiritual opportunity.

We both find the temple worship aspect of our faith extremely important. I find it much more important in fact, than weekly regular church worship services, truth be told. I definitely feel the spirit more in the temples then I do in the various meeting houses. But there is value to both aspects of our faith. The temple has become such an important part of my life since my Mom died. I feel very much at peace there knowing I will see her again. I've always felt it was a privilege to be able to help do so much work for those of that have passed on that may have not had the opportunity to learn of the restored gospel. We both have been very blessed to have amazing spiritual experiences while attending the temple and feel close to our loved ones and ancestors.

I now need to get my signature white marshmallow suit and accessories purchased, tailored and ready to go. Beep needs to get some new accessories as well. Do I see a purchase in the near future of White Dansko clogs for both of us? I think so! :) We've got to be comfortable if we are standing for six hours each week.

Old Mormon Cemetery

The "Old Mormon" Cemetery in the outskirts of Nauvoo was amazing. It was very humbling to walk around the grounds and read the names of those early saints who suffered so much before they fled west. The death rate among children was 64%, and in a lot of cases families lost all their children. There is a memorial there and we were able to view names of our various family ancestors, 5 generations ago who died. Making the personal connection and finding two of my family lines who lived their and fled west to Salt Lake City to escape persecution, makes me want to do more genealogy and learn about my great, great, great, great grandparents.



The bronzed statue in the historic burial grounds, paid a nice tribute to all those lives lost.