After serving faithfully and well, our daughter Alison came home from her mission on Oct 22, 2014.

I had missed her sooooo much! I had sent 2 boys on missions and had learned that each mission comes with its own set of trials and circumstances. I learned that you worry about different things with each child. You wonder how they will deal with the wide variety of obstacles or life events. You wonder if you have taught them enough, if their testimony is strong enough, if they will be safe.

Ella Grace made her entrance into the world last Saturday. Her mom Emma did very well considering it was her first baby.

Here she is on her first day in this world. Like all babies she gets prettier everyday. She’s a pretty good sleeper and seems to be a very content baby. Like a lot of newborns she has a bit of jaundice. The doctor had Emma put her in a light box. Apparently it was a horrendous thing for Ella. She hates being naked and she had to be under the lamp. She loves being snuggled

My daughter Emma had a baby girl last Saturday! It’s her first baby. Our family hadn’t had a baby in a couple years and we were all getting a little baby hungry, especially Shay! Shay is my son’s wife, she has 2 little girls of her own, but alas……they are 2 and 4 and soooo not tiny babies any more. So partially because she’s in a baby mood and partially because she’s just a sweetheart, she decided she would do up a cute little nursery for baby Ella as her gift.

Emma became a huge Harry Potter

I was teaching a 9 year old primary class at church a few years ago. They were a great bunch of kids. One little girl named Emma was and is extraordinary, but not in the way everyone assumes she is. She’s always prepared, she reads her scriptures daily, she knows the stories. She loves singing in the choir, she does very well in school, she’s an excellent reader and she works hard.

I have heard people say that she is a genius. I have heard people say her family is freakish, because they don’t