St. Patty's Day Hair

Here are the hair styles we wore yesterday: This is my messy bun with ribbons tied to the ends of the bobby pins and then just shoved in. It was fun.

This is Shayne's 3 leaf clover. It was one pony tail split in three. Then each one is split in half and twisted and turn under to form a heart. (also fun for Valentine's Day) Then they are all pulled together to make a clover.

Sophie's is a super easy braid with a ribbon added. All were fun to do and wear.

Spring Break

. For Spring Break I took
Shayne, Giselle Alger and John Utley to Phoenix to see Eric. Eric is my adopted son that is away at college and we went to visit him. This picture is at a swim meet during the summer. Eric is the dark skinned one. His family is from El Salvador. For some reason I didn't take any pictures of him while we were there. Just scenic views and one of the dam.

On the way there we drove through Jacob Lake and it was gorgeous! Lots of snow. We stopped at the Jacob Lake Visitor Center and had a snowball fight. It lasted all of 3 minutes and then are hands we frozen.

When we came down out of Jacob Lake and it looked like this. A different kind of beautiful.

Here is a picture of the stadium where the Cardinals play. Eric lives about 5 minutes from here.
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We had a ton of fun while we were there. On the way home we went through Vegas because it was snowing really hard in Flagstaff and through Jacob lake and I didn't want to drive in that late at night. It was a fun drive home too. We stopped at Hoover Dam and took this picture. Then the kids came up with 50 jokes about the dam. It was pretty funny. It was a fun trip. It was so good to see how great Eric was doing with college and work. He's a good example to my kids and we love him dearly.

Elder Joseph Sitati

Our Stake Conference was this weekend and it was awesome! Elder Joseph Sitati, a General Authority in the 1st quorum of the Seventies came down to speak to us. Joel had to work until 5 so we missed the 4pm Leadership session. But were planning on the Adult session at 7pm. When Joel got home from work he said that he wanted to go to his parents to get the trampoline they gave us because he wouldn't have any other time to do it. So, he took the kids and left. I hurried and made dinner and got ready and they got back at 6:50. So, Joel got dressed and ate some dinner and we walked into Conference right during the last verse of the opening song. Luckily we only live 1 block away from the Stake Center. The overflow was open into the gym but was only half way full. So we sat down in the middle of an open row and Joel said, "This is perfect because they saw us come in so they know we came." Big Mistake.

Our 1st counselor in the stake, Bro. Koeven, talked about family and then the Mission President and his wife spoke and by this time it was only 7:30. So, Bro. Koeven stood back up and said, "Bro. Satati would like the following people to come forward to bear there testimony. Kevin Talbot, Joel Beckstrand and Pam Beckstead." We both froze. Joel said, "Are you kidding me?" And I started to laugh. It was so funny. Funny because it wasn't me. Scary for Joel. He slowly walked up to the front. Bro. Talbot started to talk about the trials he's had and how his health had been so bad and how the blessing that he received from the stake presidency saved his life. I thought, "What the heck is Joel going to talk about. We are really blessed. No serious health problems and he's still in employed." Then I got nervous for him. If it was me I would have done the Primary kid testimony. "I know this church is true. I love my Mom and Dad and my brothers and sisters. I know Joseph Smith was a true Prophet. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen." And then ran back to my seat. But, of course Joel bore an incredible testimony of missionary work and the importance of it. He was his humble, respectful self and it was wonderful. When he came back and sat next to me he was still in shock. It took another half an hour before he could relax. Then they called up 2 more people to bare there testimonies and then we had a rest hymn. After that Sister Sitati spoke. She looked like a African Queen. She had the traditional dress and headpiece on and was breath taking. She told of there conversion and how they knew this was the church that they wanted to be in because the people in it loved there 5 kids. She said that other religions tolerated her kids and some didn't even do that. They have been in the church for the last 25 years from when the mission was open in Kenya.

Then Bro. Sitati talked on family and the importance of FHE, family scripture study and family prayer. He was very informal and talked to the congregation like we were old friends. After he was done he opened the meeting up for questions and they brought out microphones like they used to do for testimony meeting. (remember that?) It was very weird/different because he's a General Authority. They don't open up meetings for questions. At least I didn't think that they did. I was really neat.

The next morning at 8:30 Bro. Sitati had a meeting especially for new members, members that had been absent for awhile and where returning to the church and investigators with there fellowshippers. So we (Joel, Shayne, Sophie and I) took Taylor and Dausi was already there with the Lewis's and her Mom! I was so glad to see her Mom there. In the meeting there where only about 50 of us total. Bro Sitati got the microphones out again and had everyone that was new, returning or investigating introduce themselves. It was really cool. Really informal and he welcomed each and every person. When Dausi got done introducing herself she introduce her Mom and Bro. Sitati said how wonderful it was that she brought her Mom with her. He talked on the importance of being worthy so the Holy Ghost can always be with you. I was so glad that we were able to be there.

After, Sophie walked Taylor home and we stayed for the 10:00 general session of Stake Conference. And since we were there so early we got to sit on the soft seats!! We saved room for Jan and Andy and we had another awesome 2 hours of enlightenment. This was a weekend that I had supposed to be like all of the rest of the Stake Conferences I had been to in my life and it was nothing like it. I am so thankful for the Lord and his knowledge of what we need to hear and when and how we need to hear it.

Tramp!

Mike and Elaine are moving and since we are the only kids around that don't have a trampoline they gave us theirs. The kids LOVE it! They have been on it everyday. We have Shayne's life guard chair sitting next to it so they can use it for a ladder to get on and off but it ended up being a platform to jump off of. We'll be lucky if no one gets hurt but at least they'll have fun doing it!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! We LOVE you!

Dausi

This is our friend Dausi LaForge. She and Sophie have been friends for awhile now and we found out that she lives just behind us. We didn't know because she isn't a member of our church and we are bad neighbors. When we found out that she was taking the missionary discussions Sophie started going to them and Dausi came with me to Young Women's activities. She set her baptism date but then wanted to push it back because her friends Dad who was going to baptize her got in a car accident. But Sister Seegmiller (our YW Pres) told our 2nd counselor in our Stake Presidency about Dausi her was amazed because he is good friends with her Mom and didn't know anything about it. So, after the Missionaries and I talked with Dausi about Bro. Lewis baptizing her she was excited. She was baptized at 2pm on January 30th. Here is the story of the week of her baptism:

I go to the Temple every Wednesday to do initiatory and the 27th I had a prompting to put Dausi's name on the prayer roll. That night we had Young Women's and everything was fine. Then Saturday morning was the Best of EFY and I invited Dausi to come. She wasn't excited at first. Who would be? 3 hours of church on a Saturday! But, the Young Women told her how fun it was and she got excited. So, Saturday morning I drove to her house and her Mom answered the door and told me that Dausi was still in bed and didn't want to be baptized today. I was crushed. So, I talked to her Mom and asked her to ask Dausi if she wanted to come with us this morning for EFY anyway because it would be fun. I knew that if I could get her to EFY then everything would be alright. Dausi's Mom is a wonderful person. She herself has taken the missionary discussions 2 or 3 times but would never commit to baptism. Dausi had told me that her Mom had some concerns about her grandmother getting mad at her for being baptized into the LDS church because she was very Catholic and wanted Dausi to be Catholic. So, when Patty (Dausi's Mom) told me that Dausi didn't want to get baptized I told her that I thought that the Lord just wants us to be happy and if the LDS church doesn't make her happy then she shouldn't get baptized. She was kind of taken back. I think she thought that I'd try to convince her to be baptized. At that point I just wanted her to come to EFY. So, I told Patty that I had to go pick up some other girls and that I'd be back in 15 minutes to see if Dausi wanted to go. So, I picked up some girls and then went to the church to meet everyone. I let Sis. Seegmiller know about Dausi and then we left to go pick her up. On the way there I pulled over and started to cry and asked one of our YW to say a pray for Dausi. After the prayer I was fine. I knew that she would have a great time at EFY and would be baptized that afternoon. When we got to her house she was all ready to go.


I talked to Dausi before the meeting started and asked her what her concerns were and she said that she just didn't want to be stressed out. She wanted to be happy. Well, every talk at EFY was on ways to be happy. Not a coincidence. On our way home Dausi said that she didn't feel ready to be baptized because her Mom said that she hasn't been reading her scriptures. All of the girls bore there testimonies to her about the day they were baptized and how at the age of 8 they had hardly, if any at all, read the scriptures. I told her as we dropped her off at her house that we were all planning to go to the church at 2pm whether or not she was going to be baptized. It was up to her and I let her know it.

Then I went home to find the house a mess and Sophie still in her pj's and she was supposed to be baking brownies for the baptism. She hadn't even started them. It was 1pm. I ran all over the neighborhood trying to find Josh who told Sophie he was going for a hike 3 hours before. He needed to be home because I didn't want to take the little boys to the baptism. So, I was running around like a chicken with her head cut off and at 1:50 I got a call from Dausi asking if I could give her a ride. I dropped everything and picked her up. We went to the Stake Center, which is also the chapel we go to and helped her get ready. After she was in her jumpsuit I fixed her hair and when she came out everyone was there. Her Mom, about 8 YW, Joel and Sophie, Burke Staheli, the Lewis's and some of her Mom's friends. It was awesome.


During EFY Dausi mentioned that she didn't have any church shoes. She was wearing tennis shoes. But it was cute. So while the sister missionaries where giving there talks on Baptism and Confirmation I whispered to the YW that later that night I would be coming to there houses to get any unwanted church shoes and possibly dresses. Dausi was dressed nice for her baptism but it was a skirt and t-shirt. So, I when I got home we raided Sophie's closet. She had 4 dresses that she didn't wear anymore. And that night we got 2 more dresses and 5 pairs of church shoes from our YW. I called Dausi and told her that I was coming over to give her something and when I got there she and her Mom were amazed. Dausi tried on each dress like she was a princess. She was so happy. Her Mom kept on saying things like, "why did you do this and Dausi be careful because we can't afford to replace that one if you ruin it." I told her that they were all Dausi's now and that if she wanted to play in the mud with them then it wouldn't matter, that the girls wanted to do something nice for Dausi and they weren't wearing them or had grown out of them anyway. So, the next day for Dausi's confirmation in church she was wearing a dress and a huge smile on her face and I could tell that her concern about not being happy was behind her.

Well, one of Dausi's friends that isn't a member but is in our ward is now taking the discussions and Sophie and Dausi are going to each of the discussions with her.

In September Sophie and Shayne went to some discussions for another girl in our ward who was in Sophie's grade. Her name is Noni. She was baptized in October. The only bad thing about all of this is that Sophie won't be 12 until the end of June so she can't go to YW on Wednesday nights or to Sunday school or YW on Sunday. So, that's where Shayne and I come in. Dausi's Mom doesn't come to church yet so Dausi comes with us. We are trying to get Noni to come with us too because she lives with her grandparents that aren't active. A lot of time she will go to another friends ward instead of ours. We will also be having Taylor, the girl who is currently taking the discussions come with us too. Her parents are not active either. So, our family just grew by 3. We no longer fit in our pew. So, Sophie, Dausi, Noni and Taylor will be sitting right behind us. I hope that they all strengthen each other. They are in for some fun times. Especially Girls camp where they will all be first years.

I am extremely blessed to have such wonderful daughters who are good examples to their friends and blessed that the Lord has let me be a part of all of these Young Women's lives. It is amazing to see the strength in the youth in the LDS church. I am excited to see what the future brings.

Ben's B-day

The 10th was Ben's 6th birthday! He got a lot of fun little things from his siblings and a big teddy bear from us. But his favorite thing was that we took George, Emily, Evan, Taye and Kai to PIRATE ISLAND PIZZA! It's kind of like a Chuck-e-cheese I guess. It is a pirate themed restaurant with games you can do for tickets and then you can get some little dollar prize for the $20 you spent on tokens. Anyway, he loved it. We ordered a "Cracken" pizza. It was HUGE! Here are some pictures of the kids trying to eat it. Brad was in town this week so we took him with us. It was a lot of fun but one of those things that you can only do once a year because of the price. Happy Birthday Ben!

State Swim Championships

Joel and I went up to chaperon the 4A kids for State and they were awesome! We had so much fun. It was more like a mini Vacation for us. The manager of the hotel we stayed in was a friend of ours and he upgraded us to a King suite. It was Sweet. We'd do it again next year if they'll let us.

Shayne did great. At Region she took 1st in her 500m Freestyle and 1st in her 200m IM. At state she took 5th in the 200 IM and 7th in the 100 Free. It was so much fun to watch. Her relays didn't do much but they were awesome to watch. In the 200m Freestyle relay they were in last place in their heat when Shayne jumped in as anchor. She past 4 girls and touched the wall in 4th place. She swam a 26 second 50m! It was so cool to watch. They ended up 12th I think but it was so much fun. All of the swimmers from Hurricane, Desert Hills and Pine View High School should be proud of themselves. The altitude made quite a difference but they worked so hard and did their best! Way to go guys! This is a picture of all of the kids with us for dinner at Brick Oven in Provo.