Proud of My Big Girl

My "baby" will be 10 before I know it.  Today she gave a talk in Primary.  She's done it many times and I've always had her help me figure out what she wants to say.  But today was the first talk she wrote all by herself.  The topic was "Jesus Christ restored His Church through Joseph Smith".  We got the call only yesterday evening, so she only had time for one draft.  Below is word for word what she wrote:

James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upraideth not; and it shall be given him."

This was the scripture Joseph Smith came across when reading his scriptures. This scripture inspired him to pray and ask which church was true.  Early in the morning Joseph went into the woods to pray.  He was tempted by Satan , but he did not stop praying.  In Joseph Smith's History 1:17 it says, "*[The bright light] no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound.  When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air.  One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other -- This is my beloved Son.  Hear him."

That scripture explains when Joseph saw Heavenly Father and Jesus.  Then they tell him that no church is true.  Joseph Smith received a message from Angel Moroni three years later.  He told him where the golden plates were and that every year he should meet him and be taught by Angel Moroni.  After four years of doing so, he received the plates.  Then he translated them into the scriptures we have today.  Then the Church had finally been restored.

Now we are thankful for Joseph Smith because he restored the Church.  I learned to be patient through his story.  I also learned to pray when in need because of this story.  I'm also glad we have guidance but no confusion because the Church was restored.

* She initially had written "it" and I explained about the brackets to make the verse more clear.  This was literally the only help she had from me.

Page 1 of her talk -- She's always had such neat, clear writing.

Fun in the Sun

So, Clayton leads a really rough life.  His latest "obligation" led him to presenting at a conference in (wait for it...)

HAWAII!!! 

(I know -- Poor, poor baby, right?!!?)

As luck would have it, we had already taken our trip to New York and couldn't justify me going with him.  Fortunately though (since I don't know how he would have made it through an entire lonely week -- boo hoo!), he was able to meet up with his best friend, Mark, who has been working for BYU Hawaii.  We haven't seen Mark and Stacey for nearly 9 years and Clayton had a great time catching up and spending time with them and their three beautiful daughters.

Thanks for hosting, Mark and Stacey!  And thank you Naomi, Kalea, and Meizi for taking care of our Daddy while he was away.  He had a wonderful time!

The Newest Vernal Brown

For Anya's entire life, since she could first speak (which any of you who know her can attest was REALLY early), she has begged for a pet.  Finally we were able to accommodate her request.  

She has been doing research for months, carefully selecting breeds with potentially best temperament, activity level, size, age, training, and amount of shedding (unfortunately, though this was my highest priority, we did not truly succeed on this point).  She finally found this little girl at a rescue in Arizona.  So for Spring Break weekend we traveled to the Phoenix area, visited the Grand Canyon, and picked up a dog.

Meet Aggie, our baby Rat Terrier mix (probably part chihuahua).

Anya's self-proclaimed "best Valentine's gift EVER"!

She is about 9 months old and is still very much a puppy.  She is sweet and very active, but a bit less house trained than we were led to believe.  And right now, without a yard, she is a bit too much of a diva to use our grass-less yard, so we have struggled a bit.  Still, Anya loves her and she is a good-natured, pleasant, happy addition to our family.

More adventures to follow, I am sure...