My Testimony

After reading the Ensign this month and reading Elder Ballards talk titled 'Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet', and listening to his talk he gave to graduating BYU students, (click here to listen) I've decided to share my testimony on my blog. I do have a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that it was restored for these latter days by a young man by the name of Joseph Smith. He was the young man who was an instrument in the hands of God to restore the true Gospel to earth in these the Latter days. I know that 'Joseph Smith has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it..(D&C 135:3)'. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, he died for us so that we might live again. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, it is a daily guide for us, and with it Great will be our Joy. I know that the temple is the Lord's house, I know that families can be sealed for time and eternity in his house. I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us, and is aware of each of us. These things I testify of in the Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

This last week John and I were able to attend the temple (thanks Kaitlynn for babysitting). Just like the primary song says, "The temple is a place of god a place of love and beauty." As I was sitting there in the temple, my mind wandered, and I began thinking that I really wanted to see just a little tiny glimpse of the angels that I so often felt in the temple. I remember attending the temple soon after a cute cliente of mine passed away. She was a temple worker at the Mt. Timpanogas temple, I knew how much she loved the temple and I was certain I felt her spirit there. Well, sorry back to my story.... I was sitting there thinking that Lamen and Lemuel saw an angel and they were rebellious:

1. 1 Ne. 3: 29
   29 And it came to pass as they smote us with a rod, behold, an ^aangel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ^bruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will ^cdeliver Laban into your hands.
   

I know it was silly, and I knew I didn't need to see an angel, what good did it do for Leman and Lemuel when soon after they were rebellious yet again:

1. 1 Ne. 7: 10
   10 How is it that ye have ^aforgotten that ye have seen an angel of the Lord?

Still, we had to wait a few minutes in the temple because they were not ready, it was so peaceful and I couldn't help but keep thinking, "oh, I just want to have a little sign" ok, I know, I know that the scriptures also tell us:

1. Alma 32: 43
   43 Then, my brethren, ye shall ^areap the ^brewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth ^cfruit unto you.
   

So I knew my request was silly, but I still couldn't help but think that I just needed something to just keep me moving forward. Well, when we moved into the next room of the temple, I was walking in to be seated, and I happened to sit right next across from my husband, and it was at that moment, I felt a tender mercy from my Father in Heaven. John is truly my angel, he hates when I get too personal on my blog, but his heart is so filled with love for the gospel and for our Savior Jesus Christ, I am just so thankful that I can spend the eternities learning and growing with him. Now if only I could find a way to treat him as the gift he is to me.:) For some reason, I struggle with showing him the same kindness I show others, but it is way to easy to release my frustrations, complaints, my self conscious weaknesses, and my anger on him, the one I know loves me, and takes all the ugly I dish out.

(As I was googling for a temple picture I came across a blog of a young woman expressing her reasons for leaving the church. We now live in a world where there is so much confusion, and I am so grateful that we have a prophet that leads and guides our church in these Latter Days.)

Our 24th!

We started the day out by waking up at 5:30 Am and running a 5 mile fun run at Ivins City. Kaitlynn's mom sisters and brother came down to see her run, and I knew she was in pain because she pulled her muscle and couldn't run the day before, but she really wanted to run this race, and her family was here, so she decided to try it. The trail was a beautiful trail, running along side of the red mountain, and through Kayenta on a dirt road, passing a few ranches, and then downhill . Kaitlynn was in pain probably the whole race, but she wanted to finish, and we did. I was really proud of her. Then we stayed for the Ivins City breakfast and parade, and then on to the lake. John and one of his best friends purchased a boat a couple of weeks ago, and so we took Kim's family and went out for the day. I really do love just sitting on a boat and having our family out on the lake. John has been so busy lately, he gets up and goes to football(he coaches ) at 6 am, and then to work, and sometimes, I don't see him until 9 at night. He also has a new calling in the ward(first counselor in the elders quorum), and I really do try to be supportive, but it's hard to let your husband go help others move, clean up, or just visit, he never complains though, although it takes a lot to get a conversation out of him when he is having conversations all day long, and most of them (because the spa's clientele is mostly women) are women with lots and lots of issues, so spending the day with him on the lake was really enjoyable, it's amazing how I now cherish even riding in the car with him. Then on the way home, the trailer to our boat had a blow out, we had to park it drive all the way back to costco get the tire fixed, and come back, that time in the car with him, I could have done without.:) We got home, and John barbecued his famous chicken and steak. We ended the day with fireworks, our neighbors gave us quite the show. Lydia and Smokey posing for a picture at the parade!

Kaitlynn and I running in, oh the pain she endured. Her mom Kim and sister Makenna ran in the last block with us. Maryann's in the picture also, she ran too, she pushed herself a little too hard, and was sick the rest of the day(she's way too competitive).

Marcus and Payton rode with our primary in the parade.

Yet another busy week......

Brigham standing for the first time without falling soon after.

Kaitlyn is the daughter of my husband's sister Kim. She came down to live with us for a month. She really wanted to workout every day, get a tan, and just get a fresh start for school this year(what teenager doesn't?) So on Monday, we got up and ran the good ol' stop sign trail. Oh how I love/hate that thing. My mom was here with Michelle and the new babe, so she came also. My mom is like the energizer bunny. Kaitlyn did awesome, she ran/walked 3 miles up, and 3 miles down. I took Lydia and Brigham, and left the boys home to sleep. Tuesday Kaitlyn ran it faster. Tuesday night we went shopping for new running shoes for Kaityln, because she was getting blisters with her other ones. Marcus got some new running shoes too, so he wanted to run with us in the morning. So on Wednesday, I took both Payton and Marcus, and can I tell you, it was PURE JOY!!! Marcus ran most of the way, and then jumped in my stroller, which I didn't mind, because it gave me a better workout, but Payton ran with Grandma. He stayed up with her the first 3 miles, and then Grandma wanted to go to the top, so Payton turned around and ran back to me and asked if I needed help pushing the stroller. He was incredible, and not even tired. So he ran back to the 3 mile marker with Kaitlyn and I, and ran all the way back. Along the way, I let Lydia out of the stroller so she could run. For some reason, running with my kids was just priceless. Payton really had the best attitude, and none of my kids were whining, it was WONDERFUL. We went swimming later that day, and Brigham stood for the a very long time all by himself. Thursday, we ran again, Kaitlyn was really sore, and pushed through a lot of pain. I left all my kids home, because Grandma and Grandpa Kemp are here this weekend, except for Brig, I pushed him in the stroller. Kaitlyn pushed the stroller up the last mile, and I ran with my mom to the top. I told Kaitlyn to go as far as she could and try to meet us when we ran down. I knew she was really sore, so I really didn't think she would go too far, but we turned around, and she was pushing the stroller up the last mile which is STRAIGHT up. My mom took the stroller, and Kaityln and I walked up to the top and made it to the stop sign, I was really proud of her, because I knew that she was in pain.

Last night, we sent Marcus home with Grandma Meacham. She was going to take him to Kim's house to stay for a week. So this morning I got Payton up, and brought him running. He is going to play tackle football this year, and I'm really nervous. So, today was not pure joy, try pure headache, he complained almost the whole time. He was able to sit in Maryann's stroller for a little bit, but she got a flat, so he had to get out. Maryann ended up putting Jayni in my stoller and pushing it. I stayed with Payton and tried everything to motivate him. We walked most of it, and he just was stubborn. At one time he planted his feet and told me he wasn't moving, and I told him he could walk home then, and I left. After a while I could hear him yelling MOMMMM!!!! It was an angry yell, so I kept walking(I used to get embarassed about others watching my children throw fits, but I don't care anymore). He started running to catch up screaming and finally said PLEASE STOP! So I did, I let him catch up and I told him to stop screaming it was unacceptable, and we walked in silence the rest of the way. At the end, he started crying and said sorry, we hugged and talked, but oh my what a different experience from Wednesday!!!!

Baby Kade is here!!!

He's here, and we're so excited. He sure is cute though, sorry I didn't take very many pictures, Amie (Cam's sister) was snapping a bunch with Michelle's camera, so I only took a few, so hopefully CAM will post a few on their blog soon. Laur and I walked in with Michelle's kids, and Michelle could not hold back her tears. She has four beautiful kids, and there is a special spirit that comes with each newborn that puts life back into perspective. Congratulations Michelle, you are amazing! Here he is 20 minutes after Birth!

All three of Michelle's kids are so excited to have Kade in their family.

Kade is mom's 17th grandchild! This is Laur's little girl Sadie, she is soooo cute

As we walked into the hospital with ONLY four kids under 7, someone made a comment about how big our group was, good thing we left 6 kids home! This is Sadie and Jayni walking with Grandma. Sorry the pictures weren't too good, hopefully you can see pictures soon on Michelle's blog.

This is for Cam!!!

My brother-in-law hates being seperated from his kids, so this is for him, now tell Michelle to have that baby!

Our 4th of July weekend

(This picture accidentally got erased, so that is why it is up here.) Payton, Marcus, Lydia, and Jordan enjoying the firework show at Grandma and Grandpa's.

We weren't planning on going North for the weekend, but John's brother Jason and Mary just got back from a year in China, and so we wanted to see them. On Friday, John went golfing with his brothers and then when he got back, we went over to Jason and Mary's house. We walked over to the park to play volleyball. I used to love to play volleyball, but haven't really played since High School. We played 2 on 2 (Jason and Mary; and John and I). It was a blast. The kids just played around, and we played some serious volleyball (so I thought) . We played three games, and we actually won one of them. (Jason was easy on us, he has a MEAN spike-ouch!) I didn't have my camera, but I wish I would've, cause Payton took some really cool pics with my phone, but I can't put them on the computer. We came back to my mom's and roasted marshmallows, and watched fireworks in my mom's back yard.

Grandma and Grandpa came out for the fireworks show too.

Greg always loves to be around his family. He loves each of his nieces and nephews, and it is fun to see him get so excited to see each of them.

Greg really wanted to celebrate in style, so he got a sheet, and set up a projection screen outside, and we watched 'Spiderwick'. It was so much fun, we watched 'Vantage Point' the next night also.

(This is a pic of Greg catching some rays, and Chris and Laurie staying out of the rays). On Saturday Lydia and I went with Chris and Laurie on their boat, and John took the boys golfing, they actually chose golfing over boating. John thought it was going to be crazy because of the 4th, but it actually was not busy at all.

I didn't get to wakeboard at all last summer, because I was pregnant, and we haven't been out at all this year, so I really enjoyed getting out on the lake again. The water got pretty choppy, so I decided to try the tube(not a good idea). On Monday morning, my back KILLED!

For being such a girly girl Lydia's pretty tough. I never blogged what happened to her last week; she got hit with a bat (a foam one marcus was swinging), and cut her eye. I thought she'd go bezurk when she saw blood, but all she said, was "o-my gosh, o-my gosh, o-my gosh". She absolutely loved the tube, and smiled the whole time. ( This is my nephew Jordan and Lydia)Ok, I have to stop, we have a crazy weekend ahead of us, my sister Michelle's kid's are sleeping over, because Michelle is so close to having her baby. Kim(John's sister) and her girl's are on their way down to spend the weekend, and leave Kaitlynn for a month, and Laur(my sis ) is traveling down tomorrow to be here for Michelle's baby, and spend time while Trav is in Alaska, and my mom and dad are coming down tomorrow, so I need to STOP BLOGGING!!

Brigham is 9 months today

9 things in 9 months1. Crawling. Brig is now crawling everywhere, but mostly to mom's feet to beg to be picked up.

2. Standing. He is now getting comfortable with pulling himself up. Unfortunately our coffee table is metal and tile, and when Brig smiles, he bounces up and down, then hits his mouth on the table.
3. Teething. No teeth yet, but he has been chewing his hands like crazy for the past two months. He loves to bite anything, especially mom's chin.
4. Eating. He loves to eat all the time; bottles, rice cereal, fruits and veggies, crackers, and he especially loves Popsicles. He still likes to nurse, but mostly at night or in the morning or when we're out and about, and I forget to bring his bottle (which happens more often than not).
5. Kissing. Oh, how he loves to kiss. He grabs the back of your hair, pulls you in and slobbers all over your face; the best kisses ever. He is also the king of pinching.
6. Talking. Mama, dada, and as Lydia tells everyone, "My brother Brigem says, 'Blah Blah'." The kids love to try and teach him new words.
7. Sleeping. Finally Brig is out of mom and dad's room, and in his own crib in his own room. He sleeps through the night, but mom loves the middle of the night feeding/bonding (every ONCE in a while). Naps are whenever and where ever we can, in the car seat, at the pool, in the stroller, but my favorite is in his crib for 3 HOURS. We still all fight over cuddling and falling asleep with him.
8. Growing. He is already wearing 12-18 month clothes, he is growing up so fast. He is now a whopping 20 lbs. The doctor says he is above average for his weight, but below average for his height. He's a solid chunk.
9. Playing. Brig loves to jump in his jumper, he loves stroller rides, he loves to go swimming, and he loves to play with his brothers and sisters as long as I am close by. He always looks back at me with a look of fear when his brothers and sister take him away to play.