Christmas 2011

What a wonderful Christmas time. It has been so much fun to have Amanda home from college, lighting up our home with her sweet spirit and happy soul. The little girls just adore her and want to hang out with her. They spent time shopping together, wrapping gifts, and just ha

ving fun together. Last night we celebrated Christmas eve with a traditional turkey dinner (Taylor's request, we normally have Argentine food) with Grandma and Grandpa Seely. Dorothy worked hard all day preparing the meal and boy was it great. Most of us had to practically roll away from the table. We then spent time playing some Christmas themed games and read and acted out the Christmas story. It was so good to have Dorothy's parents hear with us. We ended the night with a Christmas video together then tucked the kids in. That is when the work began. I sure have a great wife. She amazes me with the way she addresses the details.

Christmas always feels better when it is on a Sunday. It helps us keep our focus on the day and what it represents. Our kids, fortunately did not wake us up until 7:45 although both Anna and Taylor were awake off and on since 5:00 am. We finally got down stairs and began opening presents at 8:00 am. It was so much fun and from what I could tell, it was a big success. Dorothy and I did not purchase presents for each other because we are going to Hawaii in February with the Craig and Karen Stephens. Amanda's big gift was a ticket to "The Lion King" in Las Vegas with her mom and Grandma Seely. They go next week. Taylor got a ticket to see Jimmer Fredette when the Sacramento Kings come to play the Jazz in January. He will get to go with me. Sarah, as usual, stocked up on Pokemon videos, games and cards. She did get a pay as you go cell phone. We will see how she does with it. Anna got a long board (big hit) and all kinds of minature animals. She was absolutely giddy about the holiday. I sure hate to see her grow up. The other kids are fun but Anna still is excited about everything. After opening gifts we had breakfast as a family then got ready for church.

Our sacrament meeting was the Christmas program and it was just beautiful. The choir performed many numbers as well as Dorothy and some other sisters did a beautiful number. I just love meetings that are filled with mostly music about the Savior. I think the spirit is always the strongest through music. Maybe I can convince Bishop Smith to have a couple other meetings this year of just music. Again, having Christmas on the sabbath really helps me focus on the importance of this day. I love my Savior and I am so blessed to have a testimony of his life and of this gospel. I pray that this coming year will bring our family continued blessings from God and that we can live worthily of those blessings. May God Bless All.

WINDS THAT BIND: DECEMBER 2011

It has been a while since I have posted on this site, but yesterday was a day to remember and I felt I needed to record the events of the day. Last Thursday, Davis County suffered severe damage due to high winds. Winds were recorded as high as 102 miles per hour in the Centerville area and in the 90's in Kaysville. Power was out in many areas and i was not even able to continue to work due to the power outage. Therefore, I was able to go home and spend the day in the neighborhood cleaning up debris from many yards. There were fences and trees down all over the neighborhood with roof damage and siding damage on many homes. Our home sustained roof damage and flashing damage. We fortunately lost no trees. It was amazing how many people came out to help in the clean up. We had tons of people just going house to house chopping up downed trees and making piles of garbage. After hours of work in the neighborhood, we had piles of debris stacked in front of most of the homes in the neighborhood. The hopes was that Kaysville City would come by and clean up the mess. More clean up occured on Friday and Saturday and the piles just got big. Fast forward now to Sunday.

We all know that Sunday is a day of rest, a day to worship our Savior and rest from our labors. As we sat in Bishopric meeting that morning at 8:30, we received an email from our Stake President, Kyle McKay. He informed us that there was to be another severe storm that night that would bring high winds and snow. He felt that we need to mobilize the wards to start cleaning up the debris and haul it to the dumps before the debris was blown all over the neighborhood again and became flying projectiles. He claimed that the Ox was in the Mire. Therefore, our ward which did not start church until 1:00 would start cleaning up then the other wards would do the same after their meetings. What we didn't realize is that this would be full day of work. Our ward meetings were eventually canceled altogether. Well, by 9:30 am we had about 20 people ready to start hauling loads to the dump. We started at one end of the street and began working our way through the neighborhood. Within 30 minutes we had hundreds of people loading trailer after trailer and hauling it away. We would pull up to someones home and load fences that had been blown down, tree branches, siding, shingles and anything else that had been destroyed. We had neighbors out helping that are not members of the church and some that have never even been out socially in the neighborhood. It was absolutely amazing. I don't think there could have been a better Sabbath activity. The unity and love that was felt among all those that were involved was incredible. We finished cleaning up our ward boundries then moved into the next ward and so on until our little community was cleaned up and ready for the storm, which by the way never materialized. Which is okay. The lessons learned and the bonds that were formed were beyond measure. The Lord moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. It was a great day and for that I thank my Heavenly Father.