Wow time has flown...

Holy cow I almost forgot about our blog :) Thanks Ash!

Life has been a bit crazy lately, yet it seems to be going so slow. Greg is finishing up his spring semester and we're getting ready for baby T to arrive. We found out we are having a little boy! Our due date is still July 21st. My health has had it's ups and downs. But we are surviving :)

Baby T is growing and moving a ton! So excited to meet him and have him joy our family!

I will post pictures later...

WOW! Time flies when you are having fun. Ivy and I went to her second baby appointment this last week and we heard the little one's heartbeat again. It is so weird to think that it has been a month already since we last went. Our ultrasound appointment is scheduled for March 6th. We definitely do not want to be surprised the first time around. Maybe later we will leave the sex of the child a mystery, but we want to be prepared for this first one.

I have also finished applying to Ph.d. schools and will hopefully be hearing back sometime in March. Between Ivy and I we selected 5 schools (Arizona, New Mexico, Southern Methodist, UC-Davis, and UC-San Diego) that we would be okay moving to. Ivy is hoping for somewhere warm so almost any of those places will work for her. She really wants to move to San Diego so that she can make weekend trips to Disney Land. I simply want to be admitted. If I am admitted we will be moving in August with a newborn. This year could bring lots of changes, but they will all be for the best. The Lord knows what we need and where we need to be. Ivy's mom is hoping that we don't go very far so that she can dote on her first grandchild. I'm perfectly fine with her spoiling my child.

Ivy is starting to develop a baby bump, which she loves and hates at the same time. She will make a great mother, but she secretly wishes that her body didn't have go through so many changes to do so. As excited as we are to be parents, it is also nerve-racking because it is something new. I don't know believe that anyone can ever be truly prepared for parenthood, but it would be nice if we could have an owner's manual to accompany the child. We'll keep you updated on things as we continue on our new journey.

Announcement

I know it has been a while since we wrote on our blog, but I thought that this would be the perfect time to do so. IVY IS PREGNANT! For reals. She is about 10 weeks along and the tentative due date is July 21, 2012. We barely told our families this weekend (Christmas Day to be exact), and aren't quite ready to make a large facebook announcement so we are doing so on the blog. We will eventually post it on facebook, but right now we don't want people from high school that we never talked to then are rarely talk to now to post some insincere comment. This is as low key as we can get. If you are reading this then you either noticed that we updated our blog or stumbled upon it by happy coincidence (serendipity, if you would). The first ultrasound will be performed Tuesday December 27 here in Logan. Other than that I don't have much else to say. Merry Christmas everyone.

WICKED!

Okay so this happened awhile ago... but IT WAS AWESOME! So I am going to reminisce.  In May my fabulous mother Alison, spectacular cousin Randi, and awesome aunts Marilyn and Janice went to Boise, Id to see the musical WICKED. It was AMAZING!!

TWINNERS :)

LOVE THIS GIRL!

A Real Vacation Day

Today was our real vacation day, I didn't do any work and Ivy and I got to spend the whole day together. It was a wonderful day. We started off by hopping in our car and driving an hour South to Albuquerque. We made our first stop at the temple. We didn't attend a session, but did walk around the grounds and enjoy seeing a temple that we may not get back to for a long time. After that we drove out to the Petroglyph Nation Monument. We hiked 3 small trails and saw a ton of petroglyphs on the volcanic rock around Albuquerque. From there we headed to Old Town Albuquerque. It is where the original townsite was started. We visited the Catholic Church and then took a tour around the Plaza where we learned all about the early history of the the city. It is beautiful just to walk around and see buildings that have been around for 300+ years. My favorite part of our trip to Old Town Albuquerque was our visit to the Rattlesnake Museum. I was a little worried because I don't like snakes, but I make it through better than Ivy did. We walked around and saw some fairly active snakes, but it wasn't until we spotted the 5 foot long rattlesnake that Ivy started to really feel squeamish. She actually froze for a little bit before she could convince her body that she was in no danger. We also had the opportunity to see some snakes swallowing mice. It was an amazing thing to see how it all works. We visited some of the shops around the plaza and then headed down to the Isotopes Stadium where we had our pictures taken with Homer and Marge Simpson. We then drove across town to walk through a mall. I was in seventh heaven because the mall had 6 sports stores. Ivy just laughed at me because I was like a kid in a candy store. Following our shopping trip we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings. We both decided that it would be the perfect place for my family to eat. They had 5 different sporting events blasting on their tv's. If anyone has ever tried to watch a sporting event when my brothers are around they will know how difficult it is for them to stay on one channel. That about does it for our adventures in New Mexico. We are heading home tomorrow but plan on making a few stops along the way, hopefully we will be able to get everywhere we want to.

Santa Fe Day 2

Well, this seems to be turning into a diary of our trip instead of a blog, but if I don't do it now I won't remember what happened. We spent the day in Santa Fe again, but this time slept in and went to brunch at El Tecoloco. It was one of the best places that we have eaten at during our whole trip. I highly recommend it to anyone that ever is in Santa Fe. They are only open until 2 p.m. so it is important to get there early. After brunch we went to the Scottish Rite Masonic Library and Museum. It is huge building based on el Alhambra in Spain. One of the Grand Masters gave us a tour. It is a very beautiful building and we learned quite a bit. I decided that if I ever became a Mason it would be more out of curiosity than a desire to learn anything else. Too bad I don't know any Masons that I could solicit to join. Contrary to popular opinion you have to initiate the contact, the members are not allowed to invite people to join. There are only 2 requirements: 1) Belief in a Supreme Being (not specified) and 2) the recommendation of 2 Masons that you have asked to speak for you. After that I went to the New Mexico State Archives while Ivy went shopping at the outlet malls. I actually got really frustrated as I tried to do work because the archives have had to cut their hours down to nearly nothing. You are allowed into the research area at noon, but they won't pull anything out for you until 1 o'clock. Then they won't pull anything after 4, so you really only have 3 to 3 1/2 hours to get everything done. So in order to continue my research I will have to e-mail them what I want and they will copy it and send it to me. The only problem is that it will end up costing more than I hoped it would. Oh well, I guess I need to make sacrifices in order to get my degree done.

Santa Fe

Well, today is only Tuesday. It feels like we have been here for more than 2 days, but we still have 2 more days to explore the Land of Enchantment. Today we spent all day in Santa Fe. Because I'm a history buff and have turned my wife into one we explored the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe. We wandered through the New Mexico History Museum and the Palace of the Governors also. We strolled around the plaza and visited the Cathedral also. Neither of us had previously been in a cathedral so it was a good experience. We tried to visit the oldest church in the USA, but the door was locked and we didn't get in, maybe tomorrow. Santa Fe is the nation's oldest capital and they take great pride in that fact, but the truth is that if the United States hadn't taken over this area following the war they would not be able to make the same claim as part of Mexico.
We had an eye opening experience when we went to dinner tonight. We wanted to try some local restaurants (most of which are Mexican or Southwestern) and we found one that was close to the Plaza. The bad thing about only using a GPS is that it doesn't tell you how much the food costs or what they serve. We took advantage of being on vacation and spent more than we should have, but it was worth it. We tried quail and duck for the first time. The quail was great, the duck was amazing. The best part of the dinner by far was the fried avocado. I know that to some of you that doesn't sound very appetizing, but it made up for the entire meal and the awkwardness that we experienced being the youngest (by far) people eating there. We were also the only people not drinking wine, but I guess it is a compliment that we look old enough to legally drink.
After dinner we wanted to take it easy so we went to see "Rango". It was kind of a strange movie, but what can you expect with Johnny Depp starring in it. It was a good movie, but probably not one I would watch again. Well, that about does it for our trip so far. We are planning on relaxing tomorrow and letting Ivy recover from her sinus troubles. She is almost done with it. The only problem is that the forecast for weather has turned out to be worse than we hoped. It actually snowed today, well it was only a skiff, but it was there. We were hoping for warm weather, I guess there is always tomorrow that could finally give us the break from winter that we were hoping for.

Albuquerque

Day 2 of our trip was slightly more exciting than our first. We drove down to Albuquerque so that I could visit the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico. I found the information that I needed to collect, made copies, and decided to postpone (procrastinate) my research until a later day. While I was working in the archives Ivy went to the Sandia Pueblo reservation and rode the world's longest tram. The tram takes the passengers up the Sandia Peak and you can see both Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The reason that it is called Sandia Peak is because at sunset the peak glows red and looks like a watermelon (Sandia is Spanish for watermelon). We then went to the zoo in Albuquerque, it wasn't great, but it was still bigger than Logan's. It probably would have been better if the wind wasn't blowing so much. For dinner we stopped at Harry's Roadhouse just outside of Santa Fe. It is a great place to eat, great food and a great atmosphere.

New Mexico

We haven't had much happen recently that seemed worthy enough to blog about. No pregnancy announcements, no moving notice, nothing really. Ivy continues to work to put me through school so we don't always have time to get out and do the things that we would like to do. However, we finally have something to write about. This week we drove down to New Mexico. I guess you could say that this is the first time in the state for both of us. (I went to 4 Corners once, but I don't know if that counts.)
Saturday we drove down and stayed the night in Price at my parents' house and Sunday we began the long drive to Santa Fe, where I will be doing some research for my Master's Thesis. It was only an 8 1/2 hour drive from Price to Santa Fe, but we passed through at least 6 Indian Reservations. We kinda laughed/felt bad about the horrible condition the houses that we saw were in, but were amazed at how giant and spacious the casinos were. They were by far the nicest buildings that we saw during that part of our trip. That was about the most fun that we had because the drive was so long. Tomorrow we are heading down to Albuquerque so that I can bury my nose in the archives while Ivy enjoys the nice warm weather. The only problem is that she has a wicked sinus infection. Hopefully that will clear up quickly and then we can enjoy some of the sights together.

December!

Well so much for blogging every week during November... I just have one question, where did December come from? It came out of no where!

Here's what's going on in our life now...

* Greg is almost done with his first semester of grad school!
* I am almost done with another semester of undergrad (some day I'll apply to nursing school...)

For Thanksgiving we headed down to Price to hang out with the Palmer Clan. It was so fun to have just about everyone there (the Pennsylvania Palmers will be here in June sometime). We enjoyed a whole bunch of turkey and alotta laughs! Thursday night we went with Lorin and Christi to scope out the black friday deals at Wal*Mart. We ended up staying, preparing to get some good deals for them (toys that we really don't need... but they wanted for their kids!) The sale started at midnight with the sale items wrapped in plastic and people standing around ready to pounce. At about 1155pm some random customer shouted "GO" and everyone started tearing at the plastic filling their carts. It was crazy! But so much fun.

On Friday, Greg and I headed home to meet up with my mom's side of the family. My cousin Dave and his cute lil wife and baby boy were in town from Wyoming. We had dinner and played games. It was so fun to just hang out and catch up.

Let's just hope we survive the next 2 weeks :) then we'll have 2 free weeks... well free from class!

Until next time (and something else interesting happens...)

Being grateful during the holidays...

I love the idea of posting or blogging everyday about things that I am grateful for. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen for us! Not that we don't have a lot to be grateful for, but I'm not going to remember to do it everyday :) So... I am going to do a weekly grateful for list!

This week I am grateful for family and a reliable car! Right now we are in Cedar City for a baby blessing. Greg's younger brother is blessing his little baby tomorrow and all but the Pennsylvania Palmers were able to make it. We made it safely :) thank goodness because I get paranoid about our car and every little sound it makes. Being poor college students that have had to fork out a lot of money towards car repairs, I'm entitled to worry.

This is my first trip that I remember to Cedar City (I guess we drove through when I was 5...but I don't remember it!). We got here last night when it was dark so I only could see the lights of the town. We when walked outside this morning I turned to Greg and exclaimed "Whoa! There's a mountain!" He just laughed and said, "Yes dear. It's always been there!"

I love our families! Even though we drive each other nuts sometimes, I'm so grateful families are forever!

Last grateful thing for the week... Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish! They are my saving grace somedays :) As long as they are not the whole grain ones (apparently I am allergic to the whole grain ones, but not any of the others... Go figure!)

Where has life gone?

Holy Moly! Where has life gone? Life has flown by... this is what has happened in our lives so far this summer!

(Kenz... I UPDATED THE BLOG! aren't you proud?)

For Mother's Day, my brothers came over and we made chocolate roses and hearts to put in a bouquet for our AMAZING mother! It was fun to spend time with them and a make home-made gift :)

On May 8 my Lucy Loo got married to Mr. Spencer Thackeray in the Salt Lake Temple. It was an amazing day :) we are so proud of them and their opportunity to be married for time and all eternity.

After Lucy's wedding and before her reception, Greg and I explored SLC. We ate lunch at the Lion House, and hung out at This is the Place Park. It was fun to spend time together enjoying the little things in life :)

To help Lucy Loo and Spencer (haven't come up with his nickname yet...) with their reception, I put together their guest book. It turned out pretty darn cute if you ask me, and if you ask Greg. 

At some point close to the end of Lucy and Spencer's reception, I ended up with her real bouquet of flowers. She had a separate one that she tossed to ALL THE SINGLE LADIES, all the single ladies :) she even had the song played as she tossed it :)

For Memorial weekend we headed down to Price to spend time with the Palmer Clan. Wow they have some AMAZING neighbors and ward members! Friends had helped level the front yard and put in a sprinkler system. When we got there, the sod was ready to be laid :) what an adventure! I had never laid sod before, it was kinda fun! After we got the front lawn laid, we realized that they had A TON of sod left over. The next day we thought it would be fun to lay sod in the part of the backyard. Then we realized that they no way of watering the sod SO... WE LAID a SPRINKLER system and then laid the sod. It was a weekend of first for me! 

After church on Sunday we took a drive up Nile Mile Canyon. It's this 40 mile long canyon with a whole bunch of old Indian pictographs. Kara, Lorin, Christi and the 4 kids went with us. 

The kids just cling to Greg. Maybe it's because he can relate to them :) but they love to listen to him and follow him around... He got them pretty excited to go to the canyon and see the Indian things.

More Good News!

Well, it is once again my turn to blog. Since Ivy does it most of the time I thought that I should give her a break and tell you about my wonderful day. As many of you now know I was accepted into the History Graduate Program at USU. Ivy mentioned in our last entry that we had not yet received my letter of acceptance. However, last Friday the letter finally came and the part that most excited me was that I was also rewarded an assistantship. That means that I don't have to pay tuition and I get to work with one of the History professors in a survey class. I didn't think much more of this over the weekend because my parents drove up from Price to spend some time with us for my upcoming birthday and we did a wonderful temple session here in Logan. It was my dad's first time ever going through the Logan Temple and my mother's first time since I was only a few months old. The reason I mention this little tidbit is that for my birthday gift they gave me a book (because I love reading) and some money (because they don't know which books I have). Well today, Tuesday, I took that money and went to Borders to go shopping for books. I love to peruse the book store and wait for something to catch my interest. As I was wandering through the store I ran into my favorite professor from USU, Jamie Sanders. Jamie was one of the three people I asked to write a letter of recommendation for Graduate School, so he asked me if I had been accepted and I told him that I had and thanked him for writing me a letter of recommendation. I then informed him that I had also been awarded an assistantship. That is when Jamie informed me that I was one of the very few that he had heard of that had graduated from Utah State with a B.A. and then been granted an assistantship to Utah State. Assistantships are used to attract out of state students to campus. I was more than pleased to hear that wonderful news. It just went to show me that the Lord loves me a great deal. It looks like I won't be paying for school again this year. I have not yet paid for any schooling; more proof that the Lord truly loves me deeply.

Grad School Here We Come!

After much anticipation and anxiety we found out today that Greg was accepted into the History Grad program at Utah State. Funny thing is we've yet to receive the letter...

Okay so let me explain... There is a way online to check the status of your application. Let's be honest, Greg's checked it a couple of times a week. He's also been in contact with the head of the History Grad program (which I fully believe that sucking up to your professor is a good thing!). So we sorta had an idea of when they would make their final decision and sending the letters. Last night Greg was checking online and next to "Decision" it said to contact the admissions office. Well Greg starting wondering what that meant and almost began to panic. We knew the admissions office was closed for the night (he checked at like 630ish...).

This morning he called the admissions office to ask and found out he had been accepted! The lady helping him asked if he'd like to accept at that time... hmmm pretty sure was all giddy when he said "YES!"

I'm so proud of him and what has and will accomplish :) Our future is looking a bit like this... 2  (3 years at most) in Logan then off to work on his PhD. Our ultimate goal is the University of Texas (GO LONGHORNS!) but we will go where ever the Lord directs us.

Family History... Bringing the Past to Life!

Greg and I are almost finished with our first course in the new Family History Sunday School class. It's been interesting to learning as we teach. We have an amazing class! They are so eager to learn about their ancestors and do their family history and temple work.

On Saturday, Greg and I had an urge to get out of Logan for a bit. We headed to Salt Lake to visit the Family History Library. WOW! It was so amazing to see all of the information that is available. There are 5 floors of world history and the cutest little old ladies to help every step of the way. I even saw my friend Elder Shelton (although I didn't go say hi. Greg said it was okay, but I felt weird and didn't want to distract him).

Anyways... check out the website  new.familysearch.org  it's really interesting to look through your family history and see where you come from :)

Life... The Crazy Life We Live!

I can't even believe that January is almost over! Where does the time go? In the past month I've had more emotional break downs (my poor husband...) and more joyous occasions than I deserve. Christmas was hard, just stressful and emotionally hard. I had hoped that after New Years I'd just snap back and be happy again... well it's been harder than I thought (and the stupid inversion hasn't helped).

Greg and I have stayed busy. We're both still working full time jobs (very grateful for that!) and Greg has officially submitted his application for grad school. We came to the decision that it's best if we stay at USU for him to get his master's degree. We're just waiting to hear if he's accepted or not (we're pretty sure he'll get it, but we never know what life will throw at us).

I attended my first BYU basketball game this month. It was interesting... I'm used to the intense crowd of USU basketball. BYU wasn't as intense. But it was still fun. We went with 2 of Greg's brothers and their families. We don't get to see Greg's family as much as we'd like. It's hard to find a free weekend to go to Price and well, they don't really come to Logan very often (on the other hand, Greg sees my family everyday... yet he still loves them!).

Greg and I have a new calling in our ward. We are the Family History course teachers. It's been fun learning about both of our families and playing on the church's new family history website. Apparently in my family line I am a descendant of royalty :) ain't life great!

Well after an interesting day at work, I love to relax by playing with Photoshop Elements. I've been editing pictures from the past year, including my Grandma Dodo's life and funeral. I love looking back at all of her pictures and reminiscing of all of our fun times and memories. Until I have an emotional break down start crying because I miss her so much (Greg is so amazing because he'll just cuddle up with me and let me cry) (fyi... I started tearing up just thinking about thinking about her... and Greg just turned to me and told me I didn't have to make myself cry for him to cuddle with me. Ain't he great!)

Here are some of my favorite photos that I've touched up...

My little Trevor... he's a goof!
My 3 stud muffins... Kevin, Trevor and Greg.

The Holidays...

We can't believe the Holidays are pretty much over! This was Greg and I's second set of holidays together.

Thanksgiving...

During the week of Thanksgiving Greg and I flew to sunny and warm California with my family and some extended family. We spent most of Wednesday in Disneyland, enjoying all the rides. Trevor even went on Splash Mountain with us. He did fine until he got wet...

Our hotel was about 10 minutes away from the park so we would ride the shuttle back and forth. Wednesday night we all went out to eat at Buca's. It was an Family Style Italian restaurant next to the hotel. the portions were meant to fed 2-3 people. Well Kevin (my 15 year old lil bro) ordered some ravioli but didn't want to share with anybody. The waiter who was hilarious, told Kevin he wouldn't be able to finish it by himself. Well Kevin (the human garbage disposal) not only finish his plate by himself, but then finished off everybody else's. The waiter couldn't believe it.

On Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) we headed straight for California Adventures. First order of business was to get our fast passes to Tower of Terror. Then we met up with the rest of the group at Soarin' over California. The rides were amazing! Our Thanksgiving dinner that night consisted of Jack in Box.

Friday we hopped onto a bus and took a tour of LA and then onto Universal Studios. We didn't see any celebrities (atleast not any that I recognized!) but had a blast. Such a fun vacation. I really did not want to return to the "Real World".

Christmas time...

This year all of our 'normal' Christmas traditions kinda got thrown out the window. We don't have children yet so we've haven't made our own traditions yet. But didn't really fully participate in our families' traditions either.

Christmas Eve we went to my parent's house and got to talk to Elder Bodily when he called and then we opened our Eve gift... always PJs.

Christmas morning Greg and I opened up our gifts to each other and then headed back up to my parent's to open gifts with them. That afternoon we headed to Salt Lake to meet up with Greg's family at his brother's house. It was fun to see my nieces and nephews open up their presents and get excited to play with their toys.

After seeing Greg's family we headed to Temple Square to see the lights. It was FREEZING but so beautiful.

The day after Christmas we did my favorite thing... SHOPPING! They have some great deals on Boxing day :) And then I made Greg Christmas Dinner. In the hustle and bustle of Christmas we didn't get to have a Christmas dinner so we made our own, a day late and it was AMAZING!

New Years...

Greg's brother and his family that are now living in PA will be in town visiting so we're headed to Price for New Years. It'll be a blast to see our niece and nephews that we don't get to see very often.

I think that's about all for now :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!

My First Christmas In Heaven

I found this poem and thought of my amazing Grandma Dodo...

I see the countless
Christmas trees
around the world below
With tiny lights, like Heaven's stars,
reflecting on the snow

The sight is so spectacular,
please wipe away the tear
For I am spending Christmas with
Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs
that people hold so dear
But the sounds of music can't compare
with the Christmas choir up here.

I have no words to tell you,
the joy their voices bring,
For it is beyond description,
to hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me,
I see the pain inside your heart.
But I am not so far away,
We really aren't apart.

So be happy for me, dear ones,
You know I hold you dear.
And be glad I'm spending Christmas
with Jesus Christ this year.

I sent you each a special gift,
from my heavenly home above.
I sent you each a memory
of my undying love.

After all, love is a gift more precious
than pure gold.
was always most important
the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep each other,
my Father said to do.
I can't count the blessing or love
has for each of you.

So have a Merry Christmas and
Wipe away that tear
Remember, I am spending Christmas with
Jesus Christ this year

Our Weekend...

This past weekend we packed up and headed to Price to visit the Palmer's. Our cute little niece Kelsie Ann was born on November 2 and we hadn't see her in person... She is so adorable!

We are now counting down to our trip to Disneyland in one week :D because we will be celebrating Thanksgiving in Cali, Greg and I decided to start decorating for one of our favorite holidays... KWANZAA! Just kidding I don't even know what happens on that holiday...

So far we have our tree decorated...

Just a side note, I hosted Bunco this month and in order for sweet Amanda to not give me too much crap, we held off on decorating for Christmas until now and attempted to decorate in a "Fall" fashion... the decor lasted a whole 2 weeks :D

And to brag just a wee bit... the fabric pumpkins on my table, I MADE! Yep, my first Relief Society Craft that I started and FINISHED in the same night. I was even so ambitious that I made 2 sets, giving one set to my wonderful mother!



Well, that's all for now... Laters!

Weekend Surprise!

So to kill the suspense of everyone that has so patiently waiting to hear what the surprise was this weekend let me tell you all what it was.


IVY'S PREGNANT! Okay, not really, but since most of you were thinking that I thought that I would throw it in.

The real surprise was something that Christi, Lorin's wife, did for all of us. Christi called the Palmer parental units on Monday and told us all that she was flying Nathan in from Pennsylvania to be at Lorin's baptism. Lorin had no idea that Nathan was going to be there, but had been hoping that Nate could somehow be there. My family is not known for pulling off surprises very well, but somehow we all kept our mouths shut. Ivy and I volunteered to pick Nate up from the airport and so he called us Saturday afternoon and told us that he had another surprise for the rest of the family. Nate told us that he would be bringing his 18-month old son, Washington, to see us too. Sunday morning Ivy and I headed to the airport to pick Nate up and take him to Lorin's house. Lorin got a little suspicious when my family showed up at 10:30 in the morning to go to church with him at 1:00. If you know the Palmer family you know that we are never on time when we have to travel to places. Shortly after they arrived at Lorin's place we left the airport and drove to Lorin's house with Nate. Ivy and I walked into the house holding Washington and Nathan walked in right behind us. It took Lorin a while, but once he realized who the third person to walk in with us was he ran to Nate to give him a hug. It was such an amazing moment. It was just another wonderful example of our wonderful family can really be. Eventhough we fought a lot as kids we still love each other very much. You've got to love family.

Now onto the main event of the weekend. Lorin's baptism was amazing. He chose Todd to baptize him and my father to confirm him. Needless to say there were a great many tears shed last night. Tears of joy and relief. As a missionary I saw the Atonement change peoples' lives all the time, but seeing your brother go through the pain and struggling that sin brings is harder than anything I had ever experienced. However, the joy and ecstasy that I felt seeing him enter the waters of baptism to start a new chapter in his life was down right amazing. I know that the Atonement is real, I have felt it in my life many times, but it took on a new, more personal meaning for me last night. Once again my family is complete and will be that way for all of time and eternity. I now understand the story of the Prodigal Son more than I ever imagined would be possible. It is difficult to describe the joy that was felt in that room last night, but it proved to me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that the Atonement is real. Lorin is now clean from any of his past mistakes. We all learned a great deal from this trial; I don't think that anyone would wish to repeat it, but none of us would give up the lessons learned from it.

Anyway, sorry to disappoint anyone that was hoping that we would be having a baby, but this was still a very neat surprise for all of us. Thanks everyone for helping Lorin come back to the Gospel and be baptized again.