I Have a Baby Named Ginger and She is so Brave!

   This is my baby girl Ginger. She was born right on time with a healthy birth weight. Her birth did have some excitement and she lived in the NICU for a few weeks before coming home. Since then we have spent the last nine months seeing doctors and specialists trying to figure out what happened and why she is “failing to thrive.” It has been a hard and difficult process and we have had to endure countless inquiries from well meaning individuals. “Was she a preemie baby? Are you feeding her enough? etc” Finally, we have a diagnosis, but we are seeing that this is only the first step to the trying journey ahead.

I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go… even Arizona

   In February we visited the Gilbert Arizona Temple Open House. Being from Southern California, with 4 temples within a 100 mile radius of home, we figured it would be one of the last opportunities for our children to enter a temple until they turned 12. (The age when children can go to the temple and participate in a limited amount of service.) It was a wonderful experience. Hundreds of Thousands of visitors were able to tour the temple grounds and interior before it was dedicated. It was much more than expected so the kind ushers tried to nudge us along the tour. After a 6 hours in a car with four kids under the age of nine, we were going to take our sweet time.

You Should Record a Podcast with Me

 

Twice a month I record a Podcast for This Week in Mormons called the Third Hour of Power. It is a brief 15-20 minute show where we discuss the upcoming lessons from the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church.

I am always looking for new co-hosts to join me for an episode or two. People who make good hosts have a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we able to communicate at an 8th grade level.  You don’t need to be a “scriptorian”. We like guests who have an online presence with fans who would enjoy seeing you talk about the Gospel.

An Open Letter Apology to Tyler Glenn of the Neon Trees

 

Mormon vocalist for the Neon Trees, Tyler Glenn, announced himself as Gay in a recent article for Rolling Stone. I formed an opinion about Tyler before understanding all the facts. I wanted to apologize to him.

Brother Glenn,

I highly doubt you will ever see this, but I also doubt you were aware of my reaction so I call it even. Me and my family are big Neon Trees fans. Your albums have saved out sanity when it comes to family friendly music options that are hip and cool. After a recent Cub Scout Meeting my oldest son and I went out to dinner and ended up singing Animal on Karaoke.

“Be in the World…” Why I was in a Male Beauty Pageant

 

   Some of you loyal followers may have noticed my content has been lacking as of late. Now you will know why. Last night I competed in a Male Beauty Pageant called Mr. Fountain Valley.

   How did I get roped into that you ask? Because I’m a Mormon! Let me explain, a few months ago I was getting ready for Church and listening to Sunday School Bonanza. The hosts were talking about how faithful Latter-day Saints should be more involved in their communities and referenced an old talk by M. Russell Ballard.

Date Night: She is More Than Just Your Kids’ Mom

   Growing up I used to always look at our Stake directory. I love maps and they had one of every ward! In the calendar section I remember seeing an icon of a man and woman dancing on every Friday night. Above it in bold all caps were the words DATE NIGHT!

   Flash forward 18 years, now married with children, and our relationship wasn’t as strong as it could have been. We wanted to add strength to our relationship. Part of our plan was to go out with a "power couple" in the ward. You know, the ones that are always chosen as the witness couple at ward temple night? We wanted to pick their brains and find out what they were doing to be successful.

Introducing Our New Podcast: Third Hour of Power

        

   We’ve all been there.  Opening Exercises in priesthood has ended, all the old guys and youth depart to class, and it’s time for Elder’s Quorum.  The Presidency bounces around trying to abdicate who is actually teaching that day and the least persuasive guy gets stuck with the lesson.  He proceeds to invite someone to read a paragraph and follows up with, “Does anyone have any thoughts on that?”  Being met with crickets, calls on another reader.  Then you rinse and repeat for 20 minutes.  Third Our of Power is our solution for you!