A few quick hits:

-We (I mean Jana) sold the girls’ bunk bed on craigslist. We’ll probably be moving our queen in their room for them to sleep on, and getting a king in our room

-I went to Ann Arbor, Michigan last week for some software training. It was beautiful. Trees really are very nice things.

-Jana has about 5 1/2 weeks until her due date, 9/24. We’re still thinking of a name for the little guy. Jana thinks he might come a few days early.

-Since I last wrote, we went to Newport Beach for the annual summer vacation. Jana and Eliza saw Wicked.

-Last week, Grandpa Elcock took me and our girls, along with Brian and his girls, to Lake Pleasant. See here for the story and pictures.

-Anna recently turned 3, Eliza is staring down 5, and I had a birthday. We’ve had quite a few parties this summer, with more to come. I think Anna is about to have her 4th birthday party this weekend.

First we had breakfast at home. Next we went to the zoo for the balance of the morning. The girls enjoyed the monkeys, the merry-go-round, and the giraffes. Jana enjoyed the train ride and the family-together time. I enjoyed the nice weather (not too hot, even just before noon when we left for home) and the price ($2 for the whole trip!).

After lunch at home, we finished staining the new wood for our gate. The girls even helped out. For scripture study, we read about Alma’s conversion in Alma 36. In their picture Book of Mormon, the girls read (and asked many questions) about Nephi and Lehi not getting burned in the fire.

Later, I took the girls swimming at Jana’s dad’s house. Jana picked up some pizza, and we ate together on a blanket. Now, it’s quarter to ten, and I’m the only one awake in a house of 3 tired girls.

I appreciated the American flag posted in our yard by the ward deacons, in remembrance of Memorial Day. I am grateful for all those who have fought, died, and sustained, injuries defending freedom and liberty for the United States and all throughout the world. My prayers tonight will be for the loved ones they have left behind. God bless them.

When we first told our girls, they were kind of confused and a little disappointed. After all, all they know is girl kids in our family! But they’ve come around to the idea now. Eliza even told Jana that it’s good that we’re having a boy, because right now we only have 1 boy in our family (maybe she thinks I’m overwhelmed, I’m not sure). As for me, I think that whoever and whatever we have, they will be special. Just being a child of God makes anyone a special individual with infinite worth and all kinds of capability. And being alive is a great blessing!

UPDATE: We’re not the only ones in the family having a boy this fall! My brother Brian and his wife Julie will be having their first boy (to go with 4 girls) this October. Add that to Spencer and Stephanie having little Spencer earlier this year, and our little guy will have boy cousins born this year on both sides of the family. Not to mention his sisters and all the other cousins to play with.

Short travelogue:

We drove up to Utah (Perry, to Ben & Kristen Ashcroft’s house) back in mid-March. The girls played with their cousins, Jana visited with her sister and helped with their twins, and we had a good time for a week. I also got to visit my college roommate Hank Howell and his wife Julie in Providence. Then I flew home to work for a week and a half, and to move furniture around while we had new carpet installed. On Friday 4/4, I flew back up to UT. We watched most of General Conference, and I went to the Priesthood Session with Ben and our father-in-law Ned (of Ned’s Krazy Sub fame). Finally, we drove home to Arizona Sunday afternoon 4/6.

It’s a week later and we’re still assimilating back into normal life. It’s good though. The girls have enjoyed having their cousin Bailey here for the last week.

The NBA Playoffs start this weekend, and the Suns are looking pretty good right now.

Oh, and although most of you reading already know this, we are expecting our 3rd child on September 24th!

And through the chaos, we just keep on keeping on!

Snow Angels

Snow Angel

It has already made a difference in how I feel. I think this is a parallel lesson to the idea that happiness is an inside-out job. How we feel physically is impacted by what we put into our bodies (I know, not rocket science!). What we put into our bodies slowly affects what we become. I like a good bowl of ice cream as much as anyone (most of you reading this probably already know that), but a fresh, natural glass of juice will wear on me better (outside and inside) over the long haul.

Our Elder’s Quorum lesson at church today was taken from President Eyring’s talk in October 2007 General Conference, “God Helps the Faithful Priesthood Holder”. Our instructor, Eli Robbins, does a great job of teaching the doctrine through focusing on the prophets’ words and leading class discussion. Today, we talked about the 3 things President Eyring said we might receive as answers when we pray about a difficult assignment (specifically a Priesthood assignment, but I think it applies generally):

1. Assurance and recollection that God has helped us and loved us in the past

2. Forget yourself, and focus on those you are serving

3. Get to work doing something good

I thought particularly about number 2, and how that is often the one that gets in the way for me, and perhaps for others. I know that when I am filled with Heavenly Father’s love, I have much more to give to others. When I am spiritually and emotionally “empty”, it is much more difficult and more of a chore to do even the smallest acts of service.

I believe, then, that much of the challenge in this area is to prepare; that is, to use my personal time wisely, doing things that will fill me up with God’s love. Things like scripture study, personal prayer, pondering the wonders of God’s creations and the instances He has blessed and guided me in the past (President Eyring’s number 1); these things fill me up a lot more than reading about sports (one of my time-wasters), politics, current news, or other things that tempt me in my free time. I’m not saying these particular things are evil, only that they should be necessarily secondary because they do less to build me up into the person I was created to be. They bear less good fruit in my life.

I read Stephen Covey’s book “The Divine Center” a few years ago. In it, Dr. Covey asserts that when we place Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ at the center of our lives, all other things more naturally find their proper place (in my case – the sports, politics, and news “things”, among others). But without the divine center, anything in life can become an inappropriate focus for us. So the main question is, am I becoming more Christlike? Am I coming closer to Him? He is always waiting for us to do so, and will supply us with more power to do it than we could imagine having ourselves. And He will give us rest, which for me means much desired inner peace (Matthew 11:28-30).

Make it a great week!

You may be wondering how we fared at home. Well…

All in all, I think we did pretty well. Jana set up a lot of help from 2 neighbor families,the Easthopes and the Riggs, to watch the girls while I was at work. She also arranged for my mom to watch the girls on Thursday evening and Friday. I went to my parents’ house from work Thursday and stayed the night over there with the girls. I hadn’t been feeling so well since Tuesday night; Thursday night, it blossomed into a solid cough and chest cold. So I stayed home from work and loafed around Friday at my folks’, while my parents took the girls to the park and to Chuck E. Cheese’s with their cousin Isabelle. The girls had so much fun that they both slept over 12 hours that night, as we went back home to our house.

Saturday, I was still not feeling up to par, but well enough to have some fun with the girls and get a few things done around the house. When Jana arrived home before 9 PM, the girls became so excited that they ended up going to sleep around 11. They love their mom!

Today, my voice was sketchy enough that I missed choir practice. Then in church today I was sustained as the choir tenor section leader, partially on account of my consistent attendance(!). I told my bishop I would accept, but not based on talent. Actually, the bishop asked for a sustaining vote for Shawn Haycock, another fellow in our ward. I stood up, the Bishop looked at me, and I looked back at Bro. Haycock, who had an amused smile on his face. He later (jokingly, I think) asked the bishop what a tenor was!

Last week, I had been asked to teach the primary children about the Book of Mormon prophet Abinadi today in both sharing times. I sorta, kinda dressed up as Abinadi (using some old Thailand garb and a tie around my head), and spent a few minutes talking about his life and teachings. At least one of the kids pointed me out as Abinadi after church. There are worse people I could be associated with.

All in all, it was an unusual but good weekend. And we’re all glad to have mom back home again.

Here are a couple pictures of our girls riding horses at a neighbor’s birthday party last week. They both loved it!

Later today, Jana and I went to dinner at Fajita’s to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Our friend Steve Owensby turned…er, well, he had a birthday today. He and his wife Angie, as well as Ryan and Dyan Ricedorff, are good friends in our ward. The six of us made the trip to Fajita’s and ate too much good food for our own good.

We also had a good time at Sophie and Isabelle’s birthday party on Saturday. Here are a few pics from the party. (I didn’t get any photos of the video game rock band jam session we had after cake & ice cream!). The pinata, Isabelle surrounded by presents, cute Eliza waiting for her turn at the pinata, and most of the pinata line.

Here are a few promised photos of Christmas…just click the links:

1. The girls at the temple grounds with the Christmas lights:

Temple Lights

2. Christmas morning!

Christmas Morning 1, Christmas Morning 2

3. With cousins from both sides:

Brimley cousins, Elcock cousins