Happy 9th Birthday to My Emma

My Darling Baby Girl Emma,

Wow, where has the time gone? I still remember holding you in my arms when you were born and saying a silent prayer to Heavenly Father, thanking him for the little blessing I held in my arms and asking him for strength and guidance as I started on this new path of being a father.



I still remember you crawling around on floor when we lived in Thatcher with a smile always on your face. I remember how you used to frustrate mommy and daddy every time you pulled the movies off the shelf.


And then time went on and your sisters inevitably followed after you. I think you have found that being the oldest has its privileges... as well as its downfalls. One thing is for sure and that is that I will always love you with all my heart. You are my eldest and will always hold a special place in my heart. You were a beautiful baby girl and you have continued to blossom into a

beautiful young lady and I can only suspect that you will grow into a beautiful woman, inside and out.

When I did this for your sister, I tried to impart some of my knowledge to her. So I will do the same to you. My one true wish for you is responsibility. As I have said before, you are the eldest. Your sisters look up to you to lead them and teach them. In order to do that, you must first be responsible for your own actions and their consequences. You have been baptized. You have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Listen to His still small voice and you will always make the right choice. He will help you be more responsible. He will help guide you as you help guide your sisters.

I love you my eldest baby. I have watched you grow and marvel everyday at what the new things you learn. Don't forget our Heavenly Father. Thank Him, pray to Him for all that he has given you. Study your scriptures and I promise that you not be led astray.

I will always Love you. I will always be here for you.

Love always and forever,


Your father

Happy Mothers Day

To my dearest Mother,

You have always been there for me. You have shown me right from wrong. You have helped me become the man, husband, and father I am today. Because of the tenderness, love and compassion that you had shown me, I have been able to pass those same feelings unto my children and wife today. Because of the lessons I have learned from you I more fully respect and honor the sacred power of womanhood and am able to more fully love my wife the way a man of God should.

I wish I could put into words more of how grateful I am for all the sacrifices that you gave to us.
I love you more than anything and I hope you have a wonderful Mothers Day.

Happy Mothers Day Mom!!

Love Always,

Your Eldest 'Baby'

10 Things I Love about you!!

My darling Wife,
Today marks our 10th Anniversary of marriage together. Since we are celebrating 10 years of wedded bliss, I thought I would share the 10 things I love about you. Now there are hundreds of things that I love about you so lets say that these are my top ten.

1. Your steadfast faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
2. (Dare I say it?) Your hot bod. lol
3. Your beautiful blue eyes that shimmer as the ocean
4. Your enduring smile.
5. Your tenderness and love
6. Your continued friendship
7. Your wonderful laugh, lets me know that I can still make you happy every now and again. ;)
8. Your longing to teach our children right from wrong, truth from lies.
9. All the times that we have shared together.
10. The very thought that I get to spend Eternity with my best friend.

I love you with all my heart, my eternal companion, and look forward to spending eternity with you.

Your ever loving Husband

My Darling Baby Girl, Abbey

To my middle daughter Abbey,
Happy birthday my sweet. You have such a wonderful personality and such a beautiful smile. I love you more than life itself. I can't believe you are turning 7 years old today. It just seems like yesterday I was holding you in my arms and rocking you to sleep while singing "Take me out to the ballgame."

I know life can be hard as the middle child. You feel like mommy and daddy don't love you because we are busy discplining your older sister or wrestling with your twin sisters, but know this, mommy and daddy love you with all our hearts. You are as precious to us as the love of our Savior is precious to us.

I want to impart some wisdom unto you on this special day. Be Patient. Be patient with your sisters, your mother, your father, and most of all with your Father in heaven. I know that he answers prayers and he know the wantings of your heart. Be patient and he will answer those prayers. He answered mine when he gave me you for my daughter. I will forever be in debt to our Heavenly Father for such a precious gift.

I bear my testimony to you, my dear sweet daughter, that I know our Savior lives. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the true church of Christ. I love the savior with all my heart. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that President Thomas Monson is our prophet today. I know that by following the principles set forth by Christ, we can all be much happier.

Please know how much I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day on this your Birthday.

Love always and forever,

Your Father

Love Letters to Sis. Mo. (Take Five)

My dearest Sis. Mo.
Sometimes we get blinded by the everyday grind and stresses. Sometimes we get offended by the other because of something that was said or something that was not done, or not done correctly. Sometimes we say things we don't mean or say things that come out wrong and are taken the wrong way.
All these things tend to make us lose sight of what is most important, each other, our marriage. I found these lyrics and wanted to share them with you. I know you go through a lot during the day. But as you read these lyrics by Garth Brooks, just picture us in the living room holding each other, its night time and all the kids are in bed, dancing slowly as this song plays on, and listen to me as I whisper these words in your ear:

"When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I would offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love
When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love....
....I'd go hungry, I'd go black and blue
I'd go crawling down the aisle for you
There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love....
....There ain't nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
Make you happy, make your dreams come true
To make you feel my love"

Bro. Mo.

Our 8 year old daughter was baptized recently. And one day after that she decided to throw a huge temper tantrum. I was able to take her aside and explain to her that even though she may be sorry to mommy and daddy, we are not the only ones she has to apologize to now. Now that she is baptised she needs to truly repent of what she had done wrong and basically apologize to heavenly father and promise not to do it again.
It was the perfect opportunity for me to teach about repentance in a loving and compassionate way. Too often we let emotions cloud our judgement when disciplining our children and consequently we are not led by the spirit. But I truly feel that the spirit guided me that day.

As I was pondering faith and repentance today I came across this quote by President Ezra Taft Benson:

"Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which sincere and meaningful repentance must be built. If we truly seek to put away sin, we must first look to Him who is the Author of our salvation."
Ezra Taft Benson, "A Mighty Change of Heart," Ensign, Oct. 1989, 2

May we all strive to have more faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ and the plans that He has for each and everyone of us.

So yesterday I was home all day with the kids while Nora went to work and I didn't get the chance to get on the computer. So here I am now on and I have this to share.

Last night as we were saying our family prayer, Nora said something to the effect of "help our children to be chaste" or something to that effect. Right after the prayer Abbey gets up and asks, "What does chaste mean?"

Naturally, that caught us off guard for a second. So Nora decides to go ahead and try and explain the "birds and the bees" to our 8 year old and 6 year old. I know some parents are thinking, what are you doing? You don't bring that up to an 8 year old and a 6 year old. Unfortunately, in this day and age my 6 year old already knew some about sex. She learned it in school from her kindergarten classmates.

So I went searching, letting the spirit guide my search and came upon this article on lds.org titled "Teaching about Procreation and Chastity."

It is imperative that we teach our children these things early because we never know where or when they are going to hear it first. For any parent who feels that an 8 year old and a 6 year old are too young to start learning these things needs to read this article. I feel strongly that what my wife did by explaining further to them was completely correct and I know with a surety that she was being guided by the spirit last night. I hope that all who read this will read that article, but I also wanted to add this quote from that article.

Elder Mark E. Petersen explained:
“Sex education belongs in the home, where parents can teach chastity in a spiritual environment as they reveal the facts of life to their children. There, in all plainness, the youngsters can be taught that procreation is part of the creative work of God and that, therefore, the act of replenishing the earth must be kept on the high plane of personal purity that God provides, free from all form of perversion.

“Unskilled parents can learn to teach their children properly. In fact, God commands it, and who are we to disobey?” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1969, p. 64; or Improvement Era, June 1969, p. 78).

So for Sis. Mo., you did great babe. Keep it up.