Rebekah and Daniel

Our two youngest are sporting their new Christmas clothes. Natalie took the pictures and we thought we'd share the cuteness. We're amazed at how quickly they are growing up. Rebekah is 3 and Daniel will be beginning his 6th year (turning 5) in January! Yesterday, Natalie was telling Rebekah that she will begin attending Primary (for 3-11 year olds) at Church. We don't have any more nursery kids at Church! That means two things...1) We're getting older and 2) We'll be alot healthier! :-)

Oh Where Oh Where Is My Hair?!

On Christmas Eve, I decided to cut the mop on top of my head. I had been thinking about buzzing it for awhile, but decided to finally do it. I suppose I didn't pick the best time of year to remove the warmth, but hey, I like it. Jacob, when he saw it decided that he wanted a cut like that too. I must admit, I wear my winter beanie alot more now, even to bed...it's c-c-c-cold up top! I'm not sure if I'll let it grow out again, my hairline is farther back than one might think, and I've made a silent promise to myself to never grow a 'combover'.

Preach My Gospel

One more post for today before I go to bed. I'm sure the newness of this blog thing will wear off soon and we'll post a little less frequently and when important things arise.

Recently, our Stake President has asked the stake leaders to read the Church's manual Preach My Gospel by January 4th. As of this writing, I'm only about a third of the way through it. Reading this has been a great experience. The gospel of Jesus Christ is really very simple and beautiful. In fact, I read once from one of the Church's early leaders that the gospel is simply beautiful because it is beautifully simple. Preach My Gospel is a testimony to that.

Right now, I'm engaged with trying to finish the Book of Mormon from cover to cover--another challenge given by our bishop on October 1 to read the book from cover to cover by December 31. I'm in the middle of 3 Nephi tonight. This book really is a witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. I know it is true! When I finish on Monday, I'll be able to devote more time to Preach My Gospel.

We decided that each member of our family who has been baptized will be given a copy of Preach My Gospel. We have used it in Family Home Evenings (FHE). Recently, Joshua gave an incredible lesson to our family during FHE about the subject of patience. He simply shared what he learned from PMG. That manual is an amazing resource to amplify one's scripture study as well. I look forward to studying PMG and not just reading it.

The Church has made the manual available in PDF format to study online. Click here to go to the pdf version on the net.

Breanna Plays in the Symphony

We're proud of Breanna who recently played her viola in the Messiah sing-along concert with the West Jordan Symphony. Seeing her was tough with the place that they seated her, but we got some shots of her playing. We hope you enjoy the video.



After the concert, we learned that she had been asked to be a full-time participant in the West Jordan Symphony. They will resume practices after the Christmas Break and will be practicing for their Easter Concert...details to come.

She enjoys playing her viola and has become quite good.

Greetings

Good Morning from West Jordan,

It's Friday, December 28th, 2007. It's Christmas Break and I'm off today!!! :-)

Recently, I read a great talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard that he gave to the graduates at BYU Hawaii about using the Internet to proclaim and defend our beliefs. The talk can be found by clicking here.

He suggested using blogs, among other things. I've never 'blogged' before, so here's my attempt as we get going. Apparently, you can create MANY blogs for free on the Internet. This blog will be used for updating our family news and events for you. We will also include other items, including, as Elder Ballard suggested, how our faith affects our family and our lives.


We hope you enjoy it! I'm excited to learn how to use this technology.

In this post a couple of family pictures that my sister Jane Ostler took for us last Fall in Orem by the Provo River.


We have been enjoying our Christmas break. Christmas Eve, Santa brought Michael a couple of stiches to his lower gum. We were blessed with a great dentist who took care of him very well.