Operation Baby's Room

Dear Little One,

You Uncle Brighton and his fiance Jenny decided to drive out to Utah for a visit. They wanted your mommy to take their engagement pictures and in return, Brighton showed your daddy how to kick carpet. Here's a picture of the carpet in your new room. Now, before you go and roll your eyes, I've got to tell you that this room looks 100 times better than it did just a month ago.

You see, your Uncle JD helped Daddy paint the room. It was very ugly before. We had to tear out the old carpet because it smelled really bad and had huge stains in it. Some of the sheetrock had been torn out, so your daddy had to re-frame and sheet rock part of the closet. The yellow part of the walls was a thin coat of yellow over blue, and it was very uneven. If you don't believe me that it was ugly, well just look at this picture.

After the room was carpeted, your daddy built your crib (a gift from your Grandma Kent). Then, when the crib was all put together, Mommy helped Daddy put in the closet doors. You already have a lot of new clothes and things, so Mommy will be filling your room with all kinds of baby things!

We are very excited for you to be born. We sure hope you like your bedroom.

Oh and here's a picture that Brighton took of Mommy and Daddy. Look how big Mommy's tummy is!

Mother's Day Fun

Dear Little One,

Today was the first Mother's Day that I (your mommy) was able to celebrate. I think I had a smile stretched from ear to ear.

I got to read a small letter to the congregation at Church today. A missionary who is currently in the Berlin Germany Mission sent a letter to his mother to read as part of her talk. She asked if I would read it in German and then translate. I practiced the pronunciation a little. When I got up there I tore through that letter so quickly in German. In fact I think my German was faster than my English translation. A number of people in the congregation have lived in Germany. A couple different ones came up and said they'd never heard someone non-native read German so well. Goes to show my German Minor paid off! All those hard tests on pronunciation were worth it!

Then I got to teach the lesson and lead a craft for all the kids in Primary. We had pictures of us in the Primary Presidency and then of our moms from high school or in the early 20's. Since I'm the youngest of the presidency, everyone guessed my high school picture pretty fast. The picture above is of my mommy. I don't know if she looks that much like me, but some of the kids in Primary could see the resemblance! The picture below is one where I'm looking off into the distance, hopefully it will be the best match to the one of my mum!

Anyhow, I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day!

Easter Thoughts and Miracles

Dear Little One,

Easter last week was a great bunch of fun. Your cousins Jonathan and Hannah really had a great time searching for the many Easter eggs that were hidden throughout Grandma Kent’s yard.

Your daddy actually helped hide a lot of those eggs, which made it even more fun to see how your cousins reacted when they saw some of them.

Here are some pictures of the hunt and the fun so you will have an idea what I’m talking about.

Your mommy spoke at church and shared some quotes from her favorite talk given by Elder Holland in the MTC about the Atonement and how life is hard at times because there is a certain price that has to be paid by us all. After that, she zoomed into Primary to fill in as chorister. You will love some of the songs that the Primary is working on right now. A couple of the songs are for Mother’s Day and the rest are for the Primary Sacrament Program that will happen just a month after you are born this coming fall.

Earlier this week your father was using a chainsaw at work and was injured. As he finished a cut, the saw caught and kicked back, hitting him in the face. We took him in to the emergency room and they referred us to an Ocuplastic Surgeon (eye surgeon) just 15 minutes away from the hospital. The surgeon was able to stitch your daddy’s eyelid using 15-20 stitches. Then he stitched daddy’s eyebrow and added a few on his cheek. We were told by both the doctor at the hospital and the surgeon that a higher power was at work in protecting your father. His eye was not touched or scratched in anyway. That kind of miracle doesn’t happen so often.

Anyhow, what could have been a much more serious and even fatal incident turned out to be something that will always remind both of your parents about how much Heavenly Father is watching over and protecting us. The most important thing we learned is that if you live right and do your best, come whatever may, you can get through it okay. Even if the incident had been worse, we both were given the calm needed to get daddy the help he needed. He is just grateful that he will be able to see you when you are born.