The Little Mermaid

Monday, we headed to St. George to see The Little Mermaid at the Tuachan theater. It was a lot of fun and of course they did an excellent job.

We made sure we had enough time from the time we arrived in St. George, to be able to let the kids play and stretch their legs before we made them sit some more.  So we went to a little park.  This park had some neat equipment.  It was also a water park.  The best of both worlds. 

 

 

After the park, we went to get something to eat.  Bryan umpires a lot in St. George and one of his favorite places to eat is Poncho & Lefty's.  So that's where we went.  Daniel ordered the shrimp burrito.  This thing is huge.

 He made good progress on it.  But he was full afterwards.

After dinner, we went to the temple.

 

After the temple, we headed to Tuachan.  

The show was great.  Megan was glued to it the entire time.  She had overheard another child saying she was going to meet Ariel after the show.  Of course, Megan then wanted to meet Ariel after the show.  So we hurried over to Ariel's line so Megan could meet Ariel.  But then what did Megan do?  Her usual be shy act and attach herself to mom.  So that's why she doesn't look happy in this next picture.

We had only planned to meet Ariel, but after we did this, then Daniel said he wanted to meet a few.  So here are the ones he wanted to meet.

 Flotsom & Jetsom

 

 Flounder

 Ursula

 Scuttle

Sebastian

After meeting everyone, the kids changed into their pajamas and we headed home. Driving at night is much more peaceful then during the day.  Not just because the kids are sleeping, but because there aren't as many cars on the road.  We returned home about 4:30 Tuesday morning.  Which meant, I can officially say the kids slept in.  Megan didn't get up until about 10:30.  It was a fun adventure and well worth it.  Megan keeps asking if we can go back for the next show.

Project #2

Project #2 is now complete.  We had a toy room that is no more.  We fixed the walls, painted the walls, doors, doorways, and baseboards, and cleaned the carpet.  Not really we, more Bryan.  I did clean the carpet but Bryan did the rest.  We have now moved our office into that room. 

Now on to project #3, the biggest one.  This is the fixing up our old office to make it be Daniel's new bedroom.  He gets to move downstairs.  He is so excited for it because he gets his own bathroom that is attached to his bedroom.  He says that now he doesn't have to walk to the bathroom.  (I hope he doesn't think that he can try making it to the toilet from the bed.)  I've pointed out to him that even though the bathroom is attached to the bedroom, he still has to walk to the bathroom.  His reply, "But it's closer."  Oh, my! What do I do with this child?

Time for #3!

Baby #3 is on it's way! 

Mike Otterson's Letter to Warren Cole Smith

If you haven't heard these names in the news recently, let me bring you up to speed.

A leader of the Evangelical faith named Warren Cole Smith posted an article entitled, "A Vote for Romney Is a Vote for the LDS Church" (click here to access).  While the title seems somewhat docile, the text is not as Mr. Smith states, "I believe a candidate who either by intent or effect promotes a false and dangerous religion is unfit to serve."  Of course, this bothers Latter-Day Saints...but it should bother anyone who truly believes in religious liberties and freedom to worship as one pleases.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see that LDS Church Spokesman Michael Otterson responded to Mr. Smith in an open letter in the Washington Post (click here to access).  If you haven't read this letter, please take the time to do so.  No matter your religious persuasion, it will be worth your time to digest a well reasoned, thoughtful and artfully diplomatic scolding of discriminatory practices.

Seriously, READ IT!

Kitchen Project

Before:

 We received this hutch as a Christmas present our first year in our house.  This gave us a place to put the microwave so that it didn't have to take up counter space.  

8 years later..........

 

 After:

We finished putting in some built in cabinets so that we have more cabinet space within our kitchen.  Bryan did the majority of the work. Thank you Honey!!!

It's nice to have it done!!

Be Clear-Say It!

In the day's news review, I encountered a piece from mormontimes.com.  The title of the article is "Make no assumptions, LDS Doctrine has to be said" (click here for the article).  The title grabs me because I like argument and assumptions are critical underpinnings that often make or break the argument a person is making.  However, the article makes a far more poignant point in its argument.

The bottom line is that we Mormons, in our religious talk give a large portion of our words to ancillary gospel principles (word of wisdom, tithing, priesthood, fasting, work, marriage, etc) that she sheer volume of words given to those subjects leads the listener to believe that those subjects are most important.  The truth of the matter is that Jesus Christ and his Atonement is at the center of it all.  The problem is that we Mormons just assume that others (inside and outside the church) know that instead of saying it.

I think in this matter we would do well to take our cues from our prophets and make explicit the ties between the ancillary gospel principles and the Atonement.  Don't presume that anyone 'just knows' how the pieces fit together.  There is great power and great beauty in simple statements of testimony which illustrate the connection between all the "stuff" we do as Mormons and the mission of our Savior and Redeemer.  Don't let the message get lost.  We know we are all here because of Him; let us not shy away from saying it.

Our little Ballerina

I signed Megan up for ballet classes with En Pointe School of Ballet. Today was the first day of class.  She has been so excited to go to class and to wear her leotard and skirt.  So here she is before class all decked out in pink!

After I picked her up from class, I asked the teacher how Megan did in class.  The teacher said that Megan was cute to watch because every time she needed to do a certain move, Megan would watch herself in the mirror and when she thought she did a beautiful job, she threw on a great big smile (she posed).