Chris & Summer

Hello and how are you all doing? We are doing fine. The kids are growing and getting cuter every day. Leslie is having a blast in school. She comes home every day with something new to tell us. Madyson is in preschool and gymnastics. She loves all her extra activities. Bronson is a wild man, but a very handsome wild man. He is starting to talk. He loves to play with his sisters. Sage our new addition is wonderful. She is getting bigger and cuter every day. All the kids love her and can't wait to help change a diaper or help hold her.

We spent last weekend at the Atwoods'. What a wonderful visit. The kids had so much fun playing in the snow. Mel was so brave to watch all eight kids, while Andy, Chris, and I went to Andy's office. Andy put in an implant and filled two cavities in my mouth. He is a wonderful dentist.

We are going to bless the baby this coming Sunday. We would love to see you. I hope you are all doing well. We miss each of you and hope to see you in Logandale soon.

Love, Chris, Summer, Leslie, Madyson, Bronson & Sage

Melanie and Andy

Dear Family,

There's never a dull moment here in Spanish Fork with our family of above average, wonderful, beautiful children. Our "party" house continues to entertain guests from all over. This month we celebrated with Martha & kids, then Mom, and finally Chris & Summer & kids. We're probably due for another visit from McKay and fam too! Our children love having cousins to play with. We just can't imagine life without our little hotel and so much family dropping in on us...or can we?

After much thought and prayer, we have decided to buy a dental practice in Bellevue, Washington. Andy will start working in April when the sale is final. We have enjoyed our time in Utah, but we feel excited for this new opportunity in Washington.

Love, Melanie and everyone else who lives here with us

Martha & Jeremy

Hello Family,

We had a good, but cold month. The sun disappeared the first week in February and we were hit with a snow crisis (that is how the local news channels refer to big snow storms). The entire city of Philadelphia shut down for 2 1/2 days. They canceled church, school, events and even closed down roads. The boys made little sled hills on snow covered stairs and had a hey day. I tried to participate, but that only lasted about 15 minutes and then I was back inside comfortably watching from the window.

The funny thing about Philly's snow crisis is the next week I was in Utah with my boys (minus Jeremy) visiting Mel and fam. They were hit with just as big of a snow storm--if not bigger. Despite the blizzard like conditions no one even batted an eye. Andy still left for work and the kids still left for school early in the morning. Heck, Mom even drove up to Utah the next day! After that I felt pretty sheepish about bragging about being trapped inside my home during Philly's snow crisis!

The highlight of the month was our vacation to the Atwood Party Land. Snow didn't slow anyone down for a minute. The kids still played from early in the morning until late at night. We played dark tag in Mel's pitch black basement. I think Kambri and Michael tied for not getting 'it' the most. The kids all played mini concerts and then we choreographed dance moves to some of the songs they played. McKayla gave us (yes even Lyle) makeovers. Lyle and Milo found their true identities together and became masters of disasters. They spent a good portion of each day chasing each other from one end of the house to the other end of the house. While chasing each other, they reached death defying top speeds. Yet every time they slipped and fell, they would only quickly jump back up and begin their crusade again. Mom came up for a few days too and joined in on the festivities. Every once in a while the girl adults would get a few moments to talk. This was great fun but never seemed to last long enough. The kids definitely ruled the days with their constant partying.

The week ended way too soon and I before I knew it Andy was playing his last practical joke on us. When dropping the boys and me off at the airport, he dropped us off at the baggage claim area. He laughed and then drove off. Just kidding, he didn't laugh, but he did accidentally drop us off at the baggage claim!

We came home and are now getting ready for our trip to Florida. This time Jeremy gets to come. I know Jeremy did more this month than just look at people's mouths--I just can't think of anything. I guess this family trip to Florida will be good for us.

Have a good March! Love, The Tanners

Becca & Nick

The most exciting thing for us this month is that there are only three months left until we enter real life! I get excited about it on a daily basis. I know it sounds silly, but I really am looking forward to graduation! In the meantime, Nick is still doing rotations, working at Safeway and putting the finishing touches on the music room.

Jonathan is as fun as ever. His imagination has just boomed lately. He pretends all sorts of things, and they are usually pretty far fetched. I just wish I could think of a good example right now! He found an old bubbler head in the backyard and pretended that it was a key to his matchbox rescue truck. But that really doesn't do his imagination-stretching justice. Today we kept hearing him talking in his room when he was supposed to be taking a nap. Finally Nick went in to see what all the conversation was about. Jonathan replied, "I'm talking to that boy." Nick looked around the room and asked, "What boy?" Jonathan told him, "That boy right there," while pointing to the mirror. We are finding out just how hard it is for him to stay on task too. The other day, at breakfast I was wondering why he hadn't come out of his room yet. I left him there to get dressed then come to breakfast when he was finished. Well I found him fully engulfed in a Thomas the Tank Engine book that he was "reading" (or reciting I should say) out loud while lying under his train table in his underwear.

The little princess Estelle is still bright with personality. She has started to become conversational. She just babbles and makes up her own little language. If we speak to her in babble she listens very intently as if she understands. I wonder what we're saying? She has also started reading books to herself. She is such a big girl. She already wants to do things by herself. She also surprises us with what she does know, and we are beginning to suspect that she has been strategically playing baby the last year. Last week while Nick was doing schoolwork, she marched into the room wearing Jonathan's Darth Vader mask and holding a light saber, challenging a duel. All we could do was laugh though. Estelle is still very nosey; I'm afraid her curiosity will get her into trouble. She is always investigating closets and cupboards. If someone calls out her name while she is in the act, she jumps then hurries to shut the door and acts totally innocent. And isn't she???? We think she has much more figured out then she lets on...

I guess most of you have probably heard about my scare by now that happened a couple weeks ago. Turns out the baby is situated right on top of the placenta, so any excess pressure can cause bleeding and damage to the placenta. But don't worry too much because at this stage in pregnancy it is a more than likely temporary condition. So I've been takin' it easy, just like the doctor ordered. I've been crocheting and reading, but definitely not cleaning! Nick on the other hand has actually been doing the laundry, cleaning and cooking. At first I was depressed when the doctor told me my restrictions, but since, I'm actually enjoying myself. I couldn't be pampered more!

Well, we'll be in touch.

Love, The Bryces

McKay & Keresa

Saturday I ran the sprinklers. Sydney thought it was pretty cool to stand on the edge of the patio and put her hand over the edge to let the sprinklers spray it. Then she put both hands out. Using both hands, she had no hand on the ground to balance her in the leaned over position that she was using, and she fell forward into the mud. Luckily she caught herself with both hands, so she didn't get full frontally mudded. However, in this elephant-walk position, her head was now right in the stream of water shooting from the sprinklers where her hands once were. She kind of gasped and shook her head back and forth as the sprinklers sprayed her head for a minute. I picked her up and set her back safely on the patio. Then she walked toward the sprinklers again...

We went to the store to get groceries. There was an amazing sale on the deli cookies that said 10/$1.00. So we got 10 boxes of cookies. At the cash register, the lady said ok guys, what's with the cookies. We told her and she told us that it was ten cookies for a dollar, 20 cookies per box, $2.00 per box of cookies. We said forget it.

Getting ready for church, we proceeded in the usual way: Keresa gets showered and dressed while I feed Sydney, then I get showered and dressed while Keresa dresses Sydney. Then Sydney roams around the house looking for something to do while Keresa does her hair and I finish tying my tie in the bathroom. Only 5 minutes until it was time to leave. I suddenly heard a splash and Sydney coughing/choking. I immediately pictured the large throw up that must have proceeded out of her mouth, but then thought how impossible for her to have that much liquid in her stomach. I peeked out into the bedroom to find that she had tried to get a drink out of mom's quart sized cup that was on the nightstand, and tipped it forward a little too far to dump water down her throat, dress, socks, shoes, everything. Keresa quickly put her in a new outfit so we could still leave on time.

Love, Mk kgw srw

Querida Familia,

What better newsletter article than my first marriage in the mission! So, we've been working with Francisco and Antonia for quite some time now, since the beginning of November with various levels of progress on Francisco's part. They're a senior couple, and they have a son serving his mission in the east mission. The son is the only member in the family. Our biggest tasks in working for their baptism was getting him to quit smoking so he can obey the word of wisdom, and to get them married so they can obey the law of chastity. After several broken goals and a lot of discouragement and shouting matches with Antonia (I honestly think she's a little crazy), we were pretty discouraged.

But earlier on in January, I was on an exchange with another Dominican missionary who just happened to have been in the MTC the same time as their son. He took out photos and showed them pictures of Elder de la Cruz, and then looked all around the house and said things like "Oh, your son always talked about the beautiful view up here," and, "He always talked about your darling grandchildren." Then we had a wonderful lesson and we talked about three basic goals to culminate into the baptism of Francisco (we decided to take Francisco first). Firstly, to go to church every Sunday. He was usually pretty good about that. Second, to quit all of the harmful substances that damage his body. Third, and we said this mostly to Antonia, to get married. Much to my surprise, this night, instead of shouting at Francisco and coming off as a crazy old woman, she simply said, "Bien, si el deja de fumar, me caso con el." Well, if he quits smoking, I'll marry him. Then we put the goal for the 25th of February. From there, the progression skyrocketed.

But the marriage was quite amazing. Usually, the civil offices give discounts to the missionaries who are helping people to get married. But the office here in Azua was being quite stubborn with us and not only did not give us any discount, but wanted to charge nearly 3 times more than a marriage should! And they wanted extra paperwork. After talking to the branch president, he said that in the past, the missionaries had traveled to do marriages. So we checked on a few other places nearby that would do it cheaper, but needed an extra paper that Francisco didn't have and would cost him about $2000 pesos to get. Yikes!

But then the week of the marriage (keep in mind during all this struggle, we don't even really know if everything will fall together and if Antonia will really let us go through with it all) a member tells us that when she got married, she went to the civil office in a place called Peralta, about an hour north of Azua. So we hop in the truck and do some exploring on a tiny windy road up a desert mountain. About 20 minutes of the trip is on a gravel road, and the whole thing really reminded me of driving around Whitney Pockets, White Rock and Cedar City. Then all of a sudden, there was a town! Lo and behold Peralta! The church has no presence in this tranquil little town.

We ask around the locals and find the office where there is one lady behind a desk. She tells that only simple identification is needed for the marriage and that for good Christians like us, they do it for very cheap! So we have a very good lesson again with this same member woman who told us about Peralta (she is also the mother of the girlfriend of their son). She set the whole thing up and even made a cake for an after marriage celebration! Last Friday, we all went up and did it in Peralta, and Antonia had put on a very fancy dress and Francisco a tie. It was very special and amazing to see the changes in both their lives. Antonia then told us how she was so excited to see the baptism and start going to church with Francisco and that we were always welcome in her house. Quite a softening of heart!

But then Saturday was the real icing on the cake. Elder de la Cruz and his companion came down with permission and he was able to baptize his dad! He may have spent a little too much time with his girlfriend at the baptism, but it was a special occasion. Hopefully soon we'll have a whole family unit getting ready for the temple!

Con Amor, Elder Whitney

Dad's Talk: My Life has a Plan

It is not an accident we are here today. For my part, Brother Culler Called me twice to make sure I was on track. It was a good thing too. I thought I was speaking in a ward that met in the stake center at 9:00 instead of here at 1:00. He a patiently worked through my confusion and uncertainty and we made a plan. Our Heavenly Father has a plan for us too. Turn to 1 John 2:25. "And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life."

Let's work through this. Our Heavenly Father has covenanted with us that if we follow His plan, He promises us eternal life as a celestial being. Be cautious not to mistake our promises to Him with what He has promised us. I recently read James Michener's The Covenant. It is a historical novel concerning the emergence of South Africa as a nation. The Afrikaners grew out of a strong religious group with their roots in Calvinism. They believed that since they promised God certain things they could invoke His name in every thing they did. The result was law of Apartheid. It was years before South Africa could recover from that disastrous social experiment. The point? We as God's children don't set the terms of a covenant and expect Our Heavenly Father to comply and shower us with blessings. That is backwards.

Compare that with this promise Nephi recorded from a vision. It concerns a promise our Heavenly Father made with the world. Turn to 1 Nephi, Chapter 13:16-20.

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.

17 And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.

18 And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle.

19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

20 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that they did prosper in the land; and I beheld a book, and it was carried forth among them. I was reading a another historical novel by David McCullough, 1776. The author chronicles the first year of the Revolutionary War. It is incredible how often General George Washington and his troops lost battles and the hardships they went though but never gave up. McCullough sums the struggles in the last statements of his book.

The year 1776, celebrated as the birth year of the nation and for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for those who carried the fight for independence forward, a year of all too few victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, desertion, cowardice, disillusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement, and fear as they would never forget, but also of phenomenal courage and bedrock devotion to country, and that, too, they would never forget.

Especially for those who had been with Washington and knew what a close call it was at the beginning-- how often circumstance, storms, contrary winds, the oddities or strengths of individual character had made the difference-- the outcome seemed little short of a miracle. It may seem that I am spending an inordinate amount of time on promises. It is imperative that we understand the difference between a promise we make with Our Heavenly Father for our own benefit and following the plan Our Heavenly Father has for us with its promises and blessings. How are we doing? Are we feeling like the man who jumped off the 20 story building? As he passed the windows on the way down, those in the building heard him say confidently, "So far so good." While talking of the plan our Father in Heaven has for us, I would guess we all as parents and future parents have similar long-range plans for our children. Even as our heavenly parents have long-range goals for us, their children. I want to recap a critical part of the beginning of putting those "goals" into action.

D&C 49:17 tells us man (non-gender specific) was created and existed "before the world was made." We are talking about the creation because you will want to know that while for some in this world families are an accident, plans for having families and raising children were made before the world was.

D&C 93:29 says "man was also in the beginning with God." So what's the point? Heavenly Father has hosts of folks in heaven who are 'family' and perhaps loosely could be compared to a family on earth. God held the council in heaven to work out a plan of salvation or set a plan to work out the goals he has for all of us. That is our eternal salvation.

The War in Heaven refers to the conflict that took place in the pre-mortal existence among the spirit children of god. The war was primarily over how and in what manner the plan of salvation would be administered to the forthcoming human family upon the earth. The issues involved such things as agency, how to gain salvation, and who should be the Redeemer. The war broke out because one-third of the spirits refused to accept the appointment of Jesus Christ as the Savior. Such a refusal was a rebellion against the Father's plan of redemption. What is the key to that plan? Agency. Learn correct principles and Choose the Right.

Backing up a little, one of the choice spirits, the Son of the morning, had a plan to ensure everyone's salvation. Let's read D&C 76:25. "And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son." Who are the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon talking about? Lucifer was not some fly-by-night operator who just showed up to tempt Eve and the rest of us.

Let's start reading in Moses 4:1. "AND I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying--Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor." For us that would have been the 'easy' way. Lucifer likely would have controlled all we did; we wouldn't have had to make any choices or decisions. We would never have had to think for ourselves or be able to grow mentally. Now we might reflect on this question: Will we raise our children using the same plan Lucifer was going to use to save us? Teach correct principles and let them Choose the Right

Normally my bride accompanies me on these Dry Council speaking assignments. This week my daughter Martha, who lives in Philadelphia, is visiting northern Utah. She's a bridesmaid for an old roommate from BYU. Sister Whitney decided to visit with her and another daughter we have living in Spanish Fork. I'm a little nervous because she planned on returning in time to be here with me. She normally keeps me on track by sitting in the back and yawning when things get too slow or shaking her head when my grammar gets too horrible. What really makes me nervous though, is she promised to be back in time to cut my hair this morning. When she called around 8 AM today and told me there was two feet of snow on her car I knew I'd be cutting my own hair. Contrary to what my children thought, I don't have eyes in the back of my head. Mirrors reverse vision and looking into a mirror that shows a mirror showing the back of one's head does not increase eye-hand coordination. I notice I have some bald spots that didn't show before. I'm not sure if its my advancing age or sharp scissors.

Look at our children if you desire evidence that souls were held back until now. Don't they seem to be smarter and smarter as generations are born? Speaking of intelligent children who display faith, summer one of our granddaughter was visiting. My bride prepared and served those little Kool-Aid popsicles you make in ice cube trays with toothpick handles. The six-year old loved the cool treat and planned on make more when she got home. She had the process all figured out but for one detail so she asked her grandma, "How do you get those toothpicks in the icemaker?" She had no knowledge of ice cube trays but she has faith in her grandma. Can we not have faith in our Eternal Father? Our knowledge is limited also. Our life here is roughly comparable to walking into the middle of a multiple act play. We can't remember the opening acts of the play nor do we know what will happen in the final act. God is the author and we must have faith that when the time comes, He will show us how the toothpicks get in the icemaker.

Let me read a portion of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, authored by The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but inspired by God. Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives--mothers and fathers--will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

A week ago Saturday one of the speakers in Leadership training meeting told us the best gift he received from his father was independence. He was taught how to work and think on his own. It is not an accident that some children can and will exercise agency and others won't.

A story from the Reader's Digest illustrates the sad natural result of over-protecting or controlling our children or others.

"In the city of St. Augustine great flocks of sea gulls are starving amid plenty. Fishing is still good, but the gulls don't know how to fish. For generations they have depended on the shrimp fleet to toss them scraps from the nets. Now the fleet has moved...The shrimpers had created a Welfare State for the sea gulls. The big birds never bothered to learn how to fish for themselves and they never taught their children to fish. Instead they led their little ones to the shrimp nets. Now the sea gulls, the birds that are free to go and do as they please, are starving to death because they gave in to the 'something for nothing' lure! They sacrificed their independence for a handout."

"A lot of people are like that, too. They see nothing wrong in picking delectable scraps from the tax nets of the U.S. Government's 'shrimp fleet.' But what will happen when we or the government runs out of goods? What about our children of generations to come?"

Let us not be turn our children into gullible gulls. We must preserve our talents of self-sufficiency, our genius for creating things for ourselves, our sense of thrift and our true love of independence. There are many youngsters in the valley who are raising animals for the upcoming Clark County Fair. What are parents teaching their children when they take over the care and raising of the child's animal. Does that fit Heavenly Father's plan or Lucifer's plan?

We only have our children for a short time on loan. Aren't they more our brothers and sisters than our children? When we contemplate the eternal plan and realize how we will all be sealed together, there surfaces an urgency on our part to teach independence and correct principals everyday of our children's short lives. I say short because they do not remain in our care long.

Again from The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

So where am I going with this? We were/are all 'spirit sons and daughters'. Parents and children alike. The plan is 'for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.' Our part as parent is to teach and care for our children. As children and young adults, your part is to learn the principals taught in Primary, Sunday School, mutual and home. You will grow up to be a priesthood holders and fathers and mothers and you will need to know these things. Choose the right!

Let's go to D&C 82:10. "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." Add to that Mosiah 2:22. "And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you."