A Very Special Sunday

     Today, our sweet Tucker gave his first talk in sacrament meeting. He did such an amazing job. I was so impressed with him. He worked hard on his talk and really pondered on what he wanted to share. His topic was "How does the temple help me walk with Him". "Walk with Him" is the youth theme for the year and since Tucker recently attended the temple for the first time, it was a great way to combine the two together. He wrote the whole talk himself and even shared some scriptures. I think my favorite part was when he spoke about how when he entered the House of the Lord, his heart calmed and his mind quieted. Knowing my son and his anxious tendencies, this brought me such joy for him. I love that he found peace being in the temple. His talk was amazing and we are so proud of him. 

Then this evening we were able to attend Harrison's baptism. Harrison and Tanner have been friends for over a year now. They met last year when Tanner started high school and they play in the band together. Harrison has been to our house countless times and they have spent so much time together because of band. But over the last 6 months, Harrison started having lessons with the missionaries and after finally convincing his anti-Christian parents to allow him to get baptized, he was able to get baptized this evening. 

But what was so special was the fact that he asked Tanner to baptize him. It was such a sweet night. The entire baptism program was basically run by the youth.

Both the speakers were youth from his ward  and then Tanner baptized him. The missionaries confirmed him and afterwards Harrison shared his sweet testimony with everyone. It was incredible. He talked about how his life has been touched in different ways by different members of the church and how it all led him to this decision. It was beautiful. 

It was also incredible to see how many youth came to support Harrison. I think I counted about 25 youth that night. Typically the turnout for a convert baptism isn't that high, but the missionaries had to keep adding more and more chairs until the entire room was filled. It was so cool. I know Harrison felt so much love and support and he has a great ward family to continue to support him in his discipleship journey. We just felt so lucky to be a part of it. We love Harrison! 

I'm also just so proud of Tanner for living a life that drew Harrison in and made him interested in the gospel and for being worthy and willing to perform the baptism. It was such a great night! I don't think there are many missionaries that go out on their missions with baptism experience. Tanner is a pretty cool kid!

Valentine's Day Fun!

 We had a quiet Valentine's day this year and it was good. I did get to attend Benson's class party on Friday and we finished his valentine's box just in time. With everything I've been juggling lately, he was worried I had forgotten about it, but I hadn't and Thursday after school we were able to make it just the way he wanted. 

His party was cute as usual and I was glad I was able to be there. He's such a little sweetheart and really enjoys having me at all his school events. 

On Friday we made homemade pizzas and watched a movie together as a family. That was our Valentine's date this year. 

Then today  my sister Laura and my Dad came over to visit. My mom is currently visiting her sisters in Arizona, so Dad and Laura came over without her. We spent the day with them and it was nice. The cousins also came over and we had a little Valentine's party. 

This year I themed the party around "You're my Main Squeeze" and although the kids didn't really understand the phrase, I thought it was cute and I loved the citrus theme. I made a Raspberry Lemon cake and then served raspberry lemonade and lemon cookies.  

Chris and I didn't go out this year but we did order some fajitas for dinner and picked up the order to take home and eat with everyone. 

My Dad's health is declining right now and his hallucinations are really bad, so while I'm always happy to have him visit, he was definitely having a harder weekend and didn't sleep well. I ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room with him because I was worried about him. We are in the process of applying for a medicine pump for him that will hopefully help his medications be more effective, so we are trying to stay positive. I was grateful to get to spend Valentine's day with my Dad- that's something that hasn't happened in years.  Happy Valentine's day!