Easter Sunday

Special Outings with Daddy

Thomas and Gideon have a book called Day out with Daddy.  They love to read it over and over.  They love the adventures the little boy in the story goes on with his dad.  Scott is really fun to go on outings with.  Here are just a few pictures from outings during the spring.

Abraham Lincoln at the Boise Zoo...

 

 Fanci Freeze for great behavior... 

 Ogden Train Depot...

 

 Daddy's day out for 1st Grade with Thomas and Gideon at the Boise Zoo! 

 

 

Spring Break 2013

 We spent Spring Break with the Davis family.  We went swimming, rock climbing, hiking and mountain biking.  The kids had fun together while Dawn and Brent were away for a few days.  The following is a talk written by our nephew Jackson Ryan Davis...

Good morning. For all of you that don’t know me, my name is Jackson Davis. Today I am going to speak to you on faith.  I started my research with the reliable Webster’s dictionary definition of the word faith. The dictionary definition of faith is “belief that is not based on proof” In other words, faith is seeing without believing.  Faith in something cannot just be verbal. Simply saying that you believe in something is not enough. As James 2:17-18 reads “Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man say, thou hast faith, shew me the faith without my works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works”

            As some of you know one of my favorite hobbies is mountain biking. On one of my first trips mountain biking with my uncle, after a brutal five mile climb, we got to the top of the mesa. We had been told it was a pretty easy trail, but as we reached the top of the mesa, looked down and were sure that it was suicide to attempt this trail. In the mountain biking community trails will earn a difficulty of White circle (easiest) green circle (easy) blue square (more difficult) Black Diamond (Very Difficult) and last but certainly not least, the mythical Double Black Diamond (extremely difficult). When we looked down at the trail from the top, we thought this trail should be considered a triple black diamond with skull and crossbones in the background. Every single one of us stared down the trail and wondered if our dear uncle Scott would pass a sobriety test when we got home. As we started down the trail, all of us held onto our brakes for dear life, and crashed a few times. Within the first maybe 100 yards, you can pick elevation of distance, we all complained about what we thought was the impossible. A cousin put it as “If we’re going to die here than can we at least turn around and take the stairway to heaven the other way? We were all told over and over again “just use both your brakes and keep you weight back”. All of us had our doubts, but relented, and slowly but surely, maneuvered our way down the face of the mesa. As we all started to get comfortable of the slippery slope, we realized that Ashton was no longer with us. We started to worry, and turned around to find him. We all worried, and after a half hour of searching, found him on the wrong trail, with his chain off. Although beaten and bruised by a crash, we found him relatively alright. We then made our way down the correct trail no matter how stupid it seemed. As I made my way down the slope, I just told myself to trust in my bike, and to remember that I have a good helmet and good insurance. It started to get dark, and as we started to really get going, the sun went down very quickly. We had no lights, no cell phone, and were 400 feet above the house. We were worried. We said a prayer, and made it to the bottom with minimum usage of those great helmets. As we made our way home on the streets I thought to myself “I can use this in a talk!” With enough faith, nearly anything is possible. Whether you are trusting in the lord or your brakes, all you have to do is trust, and have enough faith that no matter what the obstacles you face, whatever wrong turns you may make on the trail, you can make it back home safely.

            As James 2:22 reads “seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” or in the words of my uncle “see, I told you so!”  faith is a key part of the plan of salvation, and faith must not just be vocal, it must be an action. Brothers and sisters I would like to end with my testimony, that Jesus Christ was our savior, and with faith in him, by both words and actions, we can return to him.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Foothills East Primary

 The Foothills East ward is small but MIGHTY!  I have loved working with incredible women the past year and have learned so much.  Our primary doesn't look like any other.  We are very small with irregular attendance and often non-member children but no one is missed and everyone is important.  We put on a talent show for the ward.  Every single child participated in the program including joke telling, art displays, piano, ballet, BB shooting, spelling a name fast and singing.  Eliza jump roped and was really cute.  I loved how it all turned out and every child was a STAR!

Watch our shy Eliza Shine in this video!

  Palm Sunday Celebration

Jesus rode upon the donkey...everyone wanted to be Jesus not so much the donkey:)

So much genuine love, time and effort go into each Sunday.  We have some exciting plans for the coming year.

                    

And the award goes to....

Scott and I attended his annual banquet night for Northwestern Mutual Financial Network.  He was awarded the agent of the year again.  He certainly earned the golden trophy but not without the help of Pam Carroll.  She has been a great asset to his business.  I had the privilege to work part time for the second half of 2012 in Scott's office.  It gave me a new perspective and admiration for Scott and his hard work.

Way to be steady Scott!!!

Birthday season...16,13,9

  Our third teenager....Danielle Alice Stevens

 Danielle, Caitlyn and Mom spent the evening together.  We went to Whole Foods for a healthy dinner and the mall for Danielle's first makeover.  We had fun together.  We have never shopped much but it really was a hoot watching the girls try on new outfits and listening to them giggle.

 

 James is officially on the market.  Yes that's right 16!  Look out he is a fun one.  He still has never asked anyone out but he had three lunch dates that first week, attended the ballet and been to many bonfires and choir parties.

  Thinking, thinking, thinking, what to wish for.

   Happy Birthday little Eliza you are getting older, but certainly not bigger yet.  We are still waiting for her to hit 50 lbs.

Boise High Wrestling

James and Micah wrestled for Boise High School in the 2012-13 season.  Micah technically is still at Junior High but chose to walk from his school, North Junior to join James at Boise High each day.  He was an incredible asset to the team and the coaches were thrilled to have some upcoming talent.  Micah placed in several tournaments and even traveled with the team to Pocatello.  His team mates all wondered if he really was such a "Good" boy and discovered that they better raise their standards around him.  He was asked all about his religion, his language and how he could miss all the awesome new video games and movies.  Micah is the only member of the church on the team with the exception of his brother.  His quiet demeanor, hard work ethic and studly wrestling earned him respect from all of the team.

 James started his wrestling season really rough.  He was thrown down hard by a national champion in the first two weeks of practice resulting in a concussion and several weeks of missed practice.  His teammate is an animal and won state and went to nationals.  Just when we thought James was ready to rumble he sprained his ankle terrible and developed Ring Worm from the mats.  Man, James couldn't get a break.  He jumped in the best he could with a taped ankle the rest of the season and even took 3rd place in one of the last tournaments.  The highlight for him was his first win and fastest pin of the night on his old hometown mat in Eagle, Idaho.  His old coaches were impressed with his improvement.

 I still cannot believe these two boys are less than a year and a half apart and are so different.  James looks just like his dad did at that age thin and wiry and Micah is tall and solid...funny genetics.  The best part is that they are best friends. 

The Happy couple...Gervais Style

 

 

  We went on a quick trip to Utah to celebrate Tony and Lori Gervais's Sealing and Wedding Dinner.  Luckily Kristi McConnon shared her home with us that night...Micah made himself right at home!!!!  The wedding dinner was really sweet and we loved being with the Forman extended family.