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.

Thoughts of You

Dear little one,

Your daddy and I woke up early yesterday to clean the church. I’ll tell you one thing: people sure fill up those garbage cans each week! It was a fun way to kick off the day.

Your mommy also had a chance to run over to a yard sale that was a fundraiser for the Davis County Children’s Justice Center. She bought two bikes! You won’t believe it, but your mommy put both those bikes in the back seat of her tiny Nissan Sentra.

Anyhow, I want you to know how excited your daddy and mommy both are for you to join our family. It seems like our lives have switched pace really quickly, if not almost overnight. We’ve had to change some plans and make room for other plans (but don’t worry, we are very happy about those changes). We are so excited to get your nursery looking its very best this coming summer.

How do you feel about camouflage? You should know that camo is your mom’s favorite, so if you get tired of wearing it, just be patient. When you learn to talk you can tell her to get you something else to wear.

In the mean time, your daddy has been busy in the front yard, trying to get rid of the lawn that grows in our flower bed. In fact, the grass in the flower bed grows much better than the real front lawn! Your daddy worked hard all day, he shoveled out the grass, weeds and even some dirt to smooth that area out. Then he put down some landscaping fabric that he sells at work. It already looks so much better, even though he’s not done yet.

You’ll see what I mean soon enough. He’s still debating putting in landscaping rock or perhaps some wood bark. Then, when we are ready to plant flowers or whatever, we can just clear a spot and cute a hole in the fabric and plant the flowers. I’m sure someday you will help mommy pick the flowers to that you want to have grow there, perhaps snap dragons or something else really fun like that.

Your mother has had to go clothes shopping. She already has what some people call a “baby bump” and her pants got too tight. She is so excited to show you this world you are coming to. She even has started to collect a few things for you to wear when you get here. She cleared off a lot of book shelves and cleaned out the front closet- that way your toys will be in the front room for when she has company.

Pretty soon daddy and a few of your uncles will move some furniture out of a room upstairs. If things work out, daddy will have someone put carpet in the guest bedroom, that way, when you get older, it can become your bedroom. Your nursery walls are a very dark and scary blue, green and red color right now, so daddy will have to use primer and then some light grey-blue to calm that color. He will paint your nursery and also the guest bedroom.

Another project mommy is getting ready for daddy to work on is the kitchen. It’s a kind of crazy color right now, and we’re both sorry about that. Mommy will make sure that there are cupboard doors on the bottom level in the kitchen, so when you start to explore the house you won’t get buried in a pile of pots and pans. Maybe when you get a little older you can help daddy and mommy paint the kitchen a nicer color.

Well, right now mommy has to go and take care of dinner!