February 7th - March 6th

 In our Family The Past Month...

* We have spent most of the month with family members sick! It went through all of us except Ben and lasted for weeks! It was a nasty congestion that started in the nasal passage and eventually made its way into our chests and became a bronchial infection. Dad and Nathan overcame it with antibiotics and the rest of us (unfortunately) just let it run its course.

* The girls had their first experience with competing in a Pinewood Derby! We put one on as a YW group and we had 30 girls build a car to race. Aubrie and Lexi sure won in the creative category,  but their cars were certainly not the fastest! haha

* For somewhere around 15 years, I (dad) have wanted a smoker. As they're not cheap, that dream had always been put on hold as there were always bigger priorities. Fast forward to 2022 and the Sears in Nampa was going out of business and was liquidating all of their inventory. Shandy, the twins, and I all headed down in hopes of buying some much needed new mattresses. When we arrived, we discovered that they literally only had two mattresses left and they were not the size we were looking for.  What they did have, however, was a pellet smoker at 50% off and it was a deal, too good to pass up. So now, I feel like I have leveled up as a Dad. Weekends are for smoking and I've had a lot of fun making my own seasoning rubs and smoking ribs, briskets, roasts, burgers, etc. Another notch on the belt of manliness!

* In the beginning of 2020, the boys and I (dad) were very excited at how many great concerts we were going to be able to see that year. One of the ones we most looked forward to was Killswitch Engage. We had all been fans for quite a few years and this would be a great lineup. Opening bands include August Burns Red and also Light the Torch. We were particularly excited for LTT because the singer of that band is Howard Jones, the former singer of KSE. The new KSE album featured a song with both Jesse Leach, the original singer who left after two albums, only to return several years later, and Howard. Footage from the opening dates showed that Howard was coming out for the final three KSE songs during the encore. I know, it sounds like I'm an obsessed fanboy but we were all super stoked, to say the least. 

Then Covid came and ruined everything. The show would get rescheduled a total of four times as the pandemic ebbed and flowed. Finally, almost two years later, we were able to go and see them. This was particularly special because for the first time ever, I was able to attend a concert with all four boys. We absolutely loved seeing Light the Torch and Killswitch but what really blew us away was August Burns Red. The boys and I were floored by the energy of ABR and walked away as converted fans. August, Seth, and I got in line several hours before the show started, while Ben brought Nathan a few hours later after his rugby practice. We were able to get front row center spots and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I was particularly impressed with the ABR drummer, Matt Greiner, and was taking video of him to show to my buddy Ryan Aten (a huge drum geek). He noticed that I was getting footage of him and smiled when I gave him the thumbs up. We had a little interaction during the show and at the end of their set, he walked to the end of the stage and gave me one of his drumsticks! August was given a t-shirt by one of the band members which is fun as his name is August and he's a redhead. At the end of KSE's set, their bass player, Mike D'antonio tossed me a guitar pick. All in all, we had an awesome time and would love to see them all again. Each of us ended up buying one to two shirts so their merchandise sales were succesful.

* Rugby is in full force and practices have been 5 days a week! When the girls don't have their Middle School practice, they've been going with the high school girls and Nathan is playing on the Rocky Mountain High School team. 

* In our 14-15 YW class, we have decided to have a birthday get-together each month to celebrate the girls who had birthdays that month. We hosted it here at our house and Aubrie made a super cute cake for the girls!

Spiritually Speaking...

* We had a really special occasion happen - Ben was ordained to the office of Elder and given the Melchizedek Priesthood. He has worked really hard to be in a great place to receive this and has such a love and respect of the Priesthood. The Stake President and our Bishop both mentioned to us that his interview was one of the best they'd ever had and the SP could tell he had respected the power of the Priesthood and that it's not often that such a young man has such a deep appreciation, love and understanding of what is truly means to be a Priesthood Bearer. Ben was soooo excited and had his good friends from Nampa (Matt Garner, Issiac Fisher and Tyson Woolstenhulme) along with Natalie attend church with us that day and witness his ordination. Tyson was even able to stand in the circle which was really neat. He was also able to give 3 blessings that first week and he makes sure he always has his oil close by in case it's needed! We're so proud of him and decision to take the next steps in his progression back to the Celestial Kingdom!

* During last fast Sunday, I got the impression that I should start a new "Spiritually Speaking" edition in the Notes app on my phone to keep track of all the inspiration/personal revelation I receive so I can easily access and review it! I have been doing that these past several weeks and here are a few of the entries I've written down from either my scripture study or when praying/pondering:

Sunday - 2/13/22

Today was an extremely uplifting and inspiring church service! It was our ward conference and our new bishops first week (Bishop Jeff Ehlers). He spoke to us specifically to the youth and related the story of Jesus calming the storm and challenged us to invite Christ to calm the storms in our lives when they come.

And our stake president (Mark Kropft) gave an excellent talk and what stuck with me the most was about ministering and how we should ask those that we minister to what they specifically need or how we can best minister to them. I felt I should text out to the sisters in my circle and pose this question and ask them. I’ve also been thinking about this myself, for myself… And honestly it’s kind of a hard question to answer! I’m going to keep pondering and praying on this and will update with my answer.

Then we had a joint youth lesson for second hour and the stake president addressed the youth first. Then we had a lesson by one of the priests in our ward (Cameron Christensen) who did an outstanding job! It was all on the youth theme of proverbs 3:4-5 about trusting in the Lord and leaning not on our own understanding. He had an object lesson that went along with it where we tried to fold an origami heart with out eyes closed and just listening to his instructions (which was actually very difficult!) Then we did the activity again with our eyes open and following along with his example. He related this back to following the example of the Lord and not trying to figure things out on our own.

Finally, the second counselor in the Stake Presidency (Jason Reynolds) gave a short lesson on how each of us will hear the spirit differently and to really think about and determine how the Lord speaks to us. He challenged us to watch all of the “Hear Him“ videos that the First Presidency and Apostles have put out. This will help show how the Lord can speak to each of us. I have felt inspired to incorporate this into our Enrichments and focus more on the Come Follow Me in the evenings with the family.

Wednesday- 2/16/22

Last Night during Come Follow Me we were talking about how nothing is impossible or too hard for the Lord! As part of that, we watched the video “Because of Him“ and even though I have seen this video multiple times a part in there really stuck out to me. Regarding my health journey - it is been very hard for me to get back on since the holidays and I keep losing and regaining the same 10 pounds over and over again. In the video there’s a part that says “…because of him we can start over again, again, and again.” and that really touched me that even though I feel like I’ve been failing, I can rely on the Lord and I can start over each day in all aspects of my life including eating healthy and exercising! During my morning prayer this morning I even felt inspired that I should watch that video each morning as I start my scripture study and be reminded that He is there to help me every single day of my life! I also had a thought to share my experience with Ben .

Friday - 2/25/22

Today as I was praying to start my scripture study, my mind was impressed to study Alma 34 and 36. The following are some of the thoughts and impressions that came to me as I studied and then afterwords prayed.

• “Have patience in thine afflictions” - I had several thoughts on this. I felt maybe something major is in our future that will test us and that we will need to have patience. I’ve been having these little tremors in my face for the last couple of weeks that has been a little bit concerning  maybe this is it? (however after praying I did not feel this was "it", but did have some additional thoughts) On how we are already in the midst of affliction. Specifically mental health with Benjamin. This is certainly a major affliction that not only affects him but also our whole family and those that are in his life. I need to remember to have patience with him, show him love and kindness and mercy. Also, when it comes to weight, that is afflicting many in our family. This is something we need to have patience in as we are striving to overcome, and I need to show kindness and mercy to not only those that are persevering through this affliction, but also show that same love, kindness and mercy to myself!

Friday - 3/4/22

Go back and make a list from all the principles we’ve been learning through the old testament stories. These are all laid out very nicely in the Seminary manual. I can even add these to the spiritually speaking in our blog for future posterity and reflection.

In the Come Follow Me app it challenged us to deeply ponder all of the mercies God has given us in our time of need. I can think of times for sure when I have been in need and he has been there but even when I don’t feel “in need“ he has been there. For instants, just today we got a bonus from Xylem for all of the volunteer hours John has done for the community rugby. While we can certainly put that money to good uses in our life, it wasn’t like we were dependent or planning on that - but we definitely see it as a blessing from the Lord! Also, the whole family has been sick the whole month of February. Ben got the Priesthood (Melchizedek) and was able to give blessings of healing to several family members. John’s illness was 1/3 of the time that the rest of ours were! August, McKendra and the boys were all kept safe while traveling to Nebraska and back (even when getting stuck in Cheyenne, Wyoming due to the freeway being closed down for snow!). And I think even just a general feeling of peace and comfort that I feel each day is a mercy from heaven. Even though there’s so much turmoil going on around me in the world I wake up feeling happy and optimistic and joyful.