I went to the temple this morning. What I noticed most is the love that the temple workers showed to me. I only did five names for initiatories but I had 6 temple workers help me. I felt love and friendship from each of them, even though I had never met them previously.
This morning after Nolan woke up we wrestled around for a bit on our bed. I thought at the time that this was surely a tender mercy. I how long will Nolan, or any of my kids be this young and playful? Not long at all. Just playing and giggling with the kids is a once in an Eternity sort of thing I guess. In a way its kind of sad that as time goes on, we can never go back to this point. So I cherish this small insignificant moments where I can just laugh and play with the kids.
I got up at 6:00 this morning and called my friend Keith. We started programming our budget project together. We arranged to program for an hour together ever Tuesday and Thursday at 6 AM. It will be fun to actually work with someone again. I’ve felt like a one man show for quite a while now. It seems everything I’ve been working on in the past year has been by myself.
Gracie gave the lesson for family home evening tonight. She used the photo of God and Jesus Christ appearing to Joseph Smith and told the story. She enjoys giving the lessons which is fun to see.
I went to church in my parents ward today – the ward I was in during high school. I was surprised when I ran into my old friend Brad. We served in leadership positions together in the priests quorum and we good friends in high school. He was always quite a big guy. I say I was surprised because his parents spoke in sacrament today because they are going on another mission. I was looking for him but didn’t see him. I took Nolan into Nursery and he came in with his daughter. I figured it was someone I had never met because he had lost so much weight and has a completely bald shaved head. He looked very fit. It wasn’t until I heard his voice that I recognized him. Even then I wasn’t sure. He didn’t say hi or anything. I ran into him later and and finally got a chance to talk with him. It was really great to see him. He was made the Elders quorum president about 6 months ago. As he was conducting another of my old friends was sitting next to me in the meeting and it brought back memories of sitting in the bishop’s office each Sunday where we used to meet for our priests quorum meetings. Three of my best friends are elders quorum presidents now. While I know that callings don’t matter so much in the church, having recently served in that position, I’m glad to see that they are getting similar experiences that I enjoyed in that position. I’m always happy to run into old friends that are active in the church still and doing well.
We drove out to Roosevelt this morning. The news said it was supposed to rain all day, but when we got there it was warm and sunny. I took the boys for rides on one of the 4 wheelers. At 1:00 we had a Easter egg hunt that was postponed from Easter due to bad weather. Right as we began is when the storm rolled it. It didn’t seem to phase the kids though as they were running around collecting eggs.
In the evening we had Lawrence Welk themed birthday party for Grandma and Grandpa Brighton. It was a lot of fun. There were performances from pretty much everyone in the family.
Nolan hasn’t tried to talk at all, which has been somewhat frustrating. he just grunts and points. The past couple of days though has been fun as we’ve seen him attempt a few words. He’s started to say words like Gracie, hot dog, and a few others. He’s always been good at saying Mama, and Dada. But I think he’s going to start attempting more words soon.
Gracie and Gehrig had their first T-ball game today. I am the assistant coach, but the head coach is in China this week so I had to take control. It was a lot of fun and I think the kids had a good time. Tball is all about teaching the kids the game. Gracie is one of the oldest and the tallest player. I think she is going to be our "star". Gehrig was done after two innings. He didn’t even want to bat his last time up. It was fun though, I think I’m going to enjoy this.
Today after work I went out to turn on and try out the sprinkler system. Nolan went outside with me. Its nice to have the back yard fenced in and not have to worry about him. He played so well out there the whole time. He loves to be outside.
Yesterday when I went home teaching at the Hauser’s house, they invited us over for a barbeque tonight. So that’s how we spent the evening. I home teach the Hausers, President Hauser home teaches the Crooks, and Brother Crook home teaches us. So it makes for a nice circle of friends. I had a great time and I know the kids had a lot of fun.
In other news, our fence was completed today. It looks great. Now we can let Nolan out in the back yard and let him play around without having to worry about him running out into the street.